The Message In the Bottle
by October Sky
Summary: Next in 'Fated' series. A deadly storm reveals the creepy past connection between Locke and Boone, and a hallucination and insomnia ridden Jack is no help to the island’s other dangerous events, including a fire and a boar’s swan song attack on Sawyer.
1. Default Chapter

The Message in the Bottle

Chapter One

Summary: A deadly storm reveals the creepy past connection between Locke and Boone, and a hallucination/insomnia ridden Jack is no help to the island's other dangerous events, including a fire and a boar's swan song attack on Sawyer.

Title Note: The title was changed because of a recently added story entitled, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Couldn't believe it. I was going to use this title for my Jack-centric post island fic. Oh well. I like this title just as much, and it's double meaning. See if you can catch it.

Flashback Note: Flashbacks are in italics. The name Mark was the name of Jack's friend from the episoed "White Rabbit". I just decided to keep it. Bridget's just a name I made up. Please don't be offended by the blonde thing, I'm not a judge against blondes, that's just her characters.

Spoiler Alert: Your one and only. This stories revolved around theories, pictures, and future summaries. The Boone/Locke connection is my own story line though, and it might not make since if you haven't read my version of "Hearts and Minds".

Disclaimer: The one and only. I don't own Lost. It belongs to J.J. Abrams and co. at ABC.

(That was a huge hint to those of you who have though)

Now on with the story..

A piercing scream woke Jack up that same night. And then another scream, and another. Looking around, Jack tried to detect where it came from, but sensed nothing. The scream came again, and this time Jack realized something- he recognized the scream. It was the same way Sawyer had screamed when he had been tortured by Sayid. But why would he be hearing that now?

His question was answered by a twig snapping nearby.

"Hello?" Jack asked to the errie night air.

At the second snap, Jack stood up, and as the third twig snapped, he moved closer to the entrance.

"Hello-"

His statement was cut off as he was shoved back against the far cave wall.

"Who do you think you are?" A voice said into his ear.

The voice was very angry, very revengeful, and it was a voice he had just heard.

"Sawyer," Jack groaned as Sawyer pushed him further back into the wall.

"Yeah, it's me" Sawyer said in a low voice, "you just can't keep your hands off, can you?"

"What-"

Sawyer punched him in the jaw and Jack doubled over as he was thrown to the ground. The dark was a disadvantage to Jack as he tried to get up, but was brought down once more by Sawyer.

"Oh don't try to act all innocent," Sawyer spat.

Grabbing Jack by the collar of his shirt, Sawyer jerked him back up.

"You know you did-"

Another scream broke through the night, but this time it was real, because Sawyer heard it too.

"What the hell?" He muttered, as if wandering who would dare ruin his revenge.

On the second scream, Jack took Sawyer's bewilderment to his advantage, pushing Sawyer off him and running towards the scream. As he followed the scream, more and more were added to it, growing louder and louder in frightening tones. His jaw was twitching, and he knew that Sawyer was behind him, rather chasing him or following him he didn't know, but that didn't stop him. He kept running until he saw where the screams were coming from, and didn't stop until he came to the site at the edge of the beach. From the sound of it, Sawyer had stopped behind him as well.

"Oh God," Jack said at last.

It looked like the entire beach was on fire, and all of it was centered around blocks of wood that Jack soon recognized as the raft Michael and some others had been building. Castaways screamed as pieces of firery-wood fell onto the beach, and others ran, falling wood just missing their heads. Through the thinning smoke, Jack could barely make out a figure coming towards him.

"Jack!" Kate's voice shouted over the screams.

Running towards her moving figure, Jack caught up to her half way, and lead her away from the fire, caughing at the smoke. Sawyer watched as he did so, but only smirked, not interfering.

"What happened?" He asked as she bent over, caughing. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kate said, knocking Jack's hand away, "someone- someone set the raft on fire."

They met eyes with the same look of loss. That was it. There went their only chance of rescue, and the two of them knew it. Sawyer did as well, as he watched the two in both disgust and with his own loss. It was official. He was never going to get off this damn island or away from these people.

"When did it start?" Jack asked finally as his gaze turned from Kate to the fire.

"About fifteen minutes ago," Kate replied, "I would've told you earlier, but I didn't know where you were."

"Doc was sleeping," Sawyer said from behind them, inviting himself into the conversation, "ain't it a crime?"

Kate and Jack looked at him, both with equal annoyance.

"Fine," Sawyer said, hands up in defeat, "I'll just go along my merry way."

Their eyes followed Sawyer until he turned onto a path behind some bushes.

"We need to get this fire out," Jack said after listening to the flames crackle in the air for a moment.

Kate's eyes trailed over to where Michael, Locke, and nearly ten other people were already at it.

"I'm going to go help."

Without a goodbye, Jack began to run to help. Just as he did, the bottom of the raft gave in, and rolled to the side, sparks echoing like bottle rockets. But as Jack stopped, looking closely, the raft wasn't the only thing that had rolled. A body was tucked between the fallen raft and the hole, its hand reaching out for help. As he stared at it in horror, Jack hadn't realized that Kate had caught up with him.

"Jack?" She asked slowly. "What is it?"

She followed his gaze to the fire, but saw nothing except the burning wood. Jack, on the other hand, was intrigued at the site of the man, his arm now hanging limply over the wood.

"I've got to help him," Jack said to himself, thinking that Kate hadn't heard him.

"What?" Kate asked as Jack began to ran towards the man only he could see. "Jack!"

But Jack couldn't hear her. He was focused on the man, and was unaware of the eyes watching as he crept closer and closer to the body. Suddenly the man's head turned, its eyes staring into Jack's. Jack stumbled back, recognizing the body. It was his fathers body. Without warning, smoke began to engulf Jack, and he choked on his own breath as he felt himself fall to the ground.

-

When Jack came to, it took him a minute before he realized that he was back in the caves, and that it was still dark out. The smell of smoke was thick in the air, and his eyes watered from the exhaust as he looked around, right away spotting Kate's figure in the caves with him. She looked hopeless, sitting on a pile of suitcases she had pushed up against the caves wall to the left of Jack. Her head leaned against the side, and something about the position made Jack certain that dry tears stood on her face. Smiling a little to himself, Jack spoke the best he could:

"Sleeping on the job?"

Kate jumped, and spun around. Sure enough, a few dry tears lingered under her tired eyelids, and suddenly, Jack felt bad about waking her up.

"Oh- oh my god, you're awake!" Kate gasp under her breath. "I'm sorry-"

"That I'm awake?" Jack questioned, an eyebrow up.

"No, that I fell asleep," Kate said, walking over to him.

Jack shook his head.

"I was the one asleep when the world turned Armageddon," Jack said.

"Jack-"

"How long have I been out?" Jack cut in, not feeling up to Kate's pity.

"A few hours," Kate said, running a hand through her hair, "I had to get Sawyer to help me carry you back to the caves."

"Sawyer?" Jack said in disbelieve.

"Yeah," Kate said, knowing what Jack was thinking, "he was the only one who wasn't helping with the fire," she rolled her eyes, "he'll probably think you'll 'owe' him or something."

"Great," Jack muttered. "Did they get the fire out?"

Kate nodded.

"They got it down to a minimum," she said, "but let's face it, if no planes or ships saw that, we're never getting off of here."

There was a pause as Jack considered this, knowing she was right. The pause soon turned awkward, to the point where Jack could no longer stand it.

"So where were you last night?" Jack asked, changing the subject.

Kate stopped. How had Jack found out? According to Sawyer, he had carried her down the trail back, and had arrived back at his dwelling around four in the morning, when Jack should have been asleep.

"I was just- down at the beach," Kate lied.

"Don't," Jack said, sitting up.

"Don't what?" Kate said, puzzled.

"Don't lie to me," he said, standing up.

As well as he could, he walked over towards where all the medicine was, noticing right away that Boone had already taken his medicine, sneaking in sometime during the night. Pain suddenly shot up his back, worse than he had ever felt it after the long shifts at the hospital. Losing his balance, he stumbled, clutching to the makeshift table for support. Kate grabbed onto him, steadying him. When he gained his balance back, Kate let her hand slowly slide down his arm, giving Jack his space.

"What are you talking about?" She asked quietly, hoping that Jack wouldn't notice the nerves in her voice.

"Some people at the beach saw Sawyer bring you in this morning," Jack said, looking into her eyes, which seemed sad to her.

Kate threw her head back and then brought it back down, innocently running a hand through it and laughing a little.

"Oh that was nothing, I had just-"

"You slept with him Kate," Jack continued, jumping to his own conclusions, "you're drunk, or were."

"What makes you think that?" Kate exclaimed, trying her hardest not to give herself away. "How are you not sure that-"

Jack grabbed the wrist of the hand she had been guiding through her lie.

"Don't," he said, looking into her eyes.

He then let go of the wrist, but didn't take his eyes off her.

"It's not worth it," he finished, weary, and in an even lower voice than she had been talking in before.

Kate felt sick as she felt Jack's hand leave her. He sounded so devastated, betrayed. What had he ever done but try to protect her? But then the other side of her brain clicked in, and she begin to think.. but had she really betrayed him? Had she really done wrong? With all this on top of her, Kate felt herself no longer being able to stand his presence, the way it made her feel. Turning her head to the ground, she left, leaving Jack to his own thoughts..

_"Okay, so a guy walks out of a bar," a woman's voice was saying, "and sees this police man.."_

_Jack didn't listen to the rest of the joke as he stared deep into the stirophone sides of his coffee mug. He and his friend, Mark, who also worked at the hospital, but on the children's floor, were eating in the hospital cafeteria along with Mark's fiancé, Bridget, a real blonde who had been lucky to have even seen a guy like Mark in Jack's opinion. Nevertheless, the two had fallen in love, and Jack was granted best man and the joys of listening to endless hours of wedding talk during his little time off of work. It wasn't like he had a life, anyway, here he was thirty-four and single with a shabby apartment topped with a tv set he had had since high school, a wall phone that hadn't been used in two months, and one good friend he could count for who had known him since third grade, and most likely only stuck around because the guy didn't have the heart to leave._

_"And then the other man said-" Bridget stopped short, seeing Jack's off-look,_

"_oh I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't- offend you or anything, did I? Mark told me about your father."_

_She stole a quick glance to her boyfriend, who gave her a warning look. Mark and Jack, of course, had known each other since elementary school, and in the process had become like twins, who could sense what the other was thinking, and half the time, for Mark, it was a good thing._

_"Maybe we should discuss the honeymoon again," Bridget said, and with that, all her sympathy for Jack seemed lost, "did your parents finally agree on Hawaii or-"_

_Seeing that Jack had given a sigh at the mention of 'honeymoon', Mark cleared his throat, looking back up._

_"Maybe we should change the subject," he suggested, glancing towards Jack._

_"Oh, don't let me ruin your fun," Jack said, coming out of his daze._

_He held up his coffee cup that was now empty._

_"I'll just, go throw this away._

_Pushing himself away from the table, Jack began to stand, but a man walking through the other side of the cafeteria caught his attention. He looked closely, trying to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. _

_"Jack?" Mark asked, sounding a little worried._

_Being used to worrying about his friends, Mark followed Jack's gaze over towards the exit sign where a man was headed. A man, who, in fact, was Jack's father. Mark suddenly understood Jack's silence, knowing all about Jack's 'daddy issues', or at least what Jack had let him in on. He was about to advise Jack, maybe tell him to stay calm, or to not do anything stupid, he didn't know, but wasn't quick enough. Leaving his coffee cup, Jack strode over towards his father, trying to catch up before he had a chance to escape. In the process, he had to ignore and deal with the turned heads, and ears that had clicked on as Jack ran by._

_"Dad!" He called, surprising himself._

_Jack hadn't been sure what he'd say to his father once he had caught up with him, but since this was the first time in the past week and a half that he had seen so much as his father's head, he was determined not to let the opportunity go. His father stopped, as if he himself were pondering the situation, and after a moment of what seemed like heavy thinking, he finally turned around._

_"What?" His father said simply._

_Interested eyes were watching the two as Jack took in his father's drunken appearance. It had seemed like the entire ward had known about the ordeal between the two, though Jack had no ideas as to how, and somewhere along the lines, rumors had leaked to other floors of the hospital. Rumors that haunted Jack as he had attempted and failed at trying to sleep the past ten days. Across the room, Mark watched the scene, eyeing the two tentatively._

_"What are you doing here?" Jack sputtered at last, it being the only thing he could think of to say._

_Reaching into his pocket, Christian Shephard took out a piece of paper, which turned out to be a check._

_"My last cheek," he said, shaking the paper in front of Jack's face, "and I guess I have you to thank for that."_

_"Dad, please, just listen-" Jack tried, but was only interrupted by his very drunken father._

_Jack could even smell the achohol on his teeth as he shouted to the hospital._

_"I had this!" Christian shouted. "I worked for years to become this, working harder and longer in a day than most people do in a week! And for what? For it to be thrown away for some misunderstanding?"_

_"A misunderstanding," Jack repeated in awe, his anger for his father taking over the joy of seeing him. His voice lowered drastically. "Dad, you were drunk. Your hands were shaking."_

_"I was not drunk," Christian said, exposing each word separately. "You had no right being in there."_

_He stopped, shaking his head as he began laughing._

_"What?" Jack said, sickened that his father could find any humor in this._

_"Look at me," Christian said, shaking his head, "repeating history."_

_Jack's father didn't continue until he met Jack's eyes, staring straight into them. Somehow, he was able to ignore the obvious pain and betrayal Jack held, if, that was, he had seen it at all._

_"It's over," he continued at last, "we're.. over. You're no son of mine."_

_He took one last look at Jack and then shook his head as he turned, leaving the_

_hospital one last time._

_"Dad!" Jack called after him desperatly as his father headed out the door. "Dad!"_

_But Christian ignored his son, leaving him standing in hurt and disbelief._

Author's Note: Finally I finished it, and I finally I know where this fic is going! It'll be shorter than the others, I'm pretty sure, and very down to earth. I think things will happen chapter by chapter, an event in each, in order to fit everything in. I'll write it, but expect possible editing later if I change my mind. It's very important that you have read my version of "Hearts and Minds" to understand the next chapter. Thanks for all the reviews for "The Stranger". I loved them! Love yall! I'm so sorry it took me so long to get this out, but I hope it was worth it! Three day weekend so I'll try my best to get as much of this down as I can!

Coming up next: Charlie returns, but without Locke and Boone, who go searching for Ethan's liar, in hopes of solving some island mysterious. But things go awry, and the situation heats up(not in a romantic way) dark past connections are revealed, and character relationships(not romantic) change, or, at least, innerly change.

And in the future: A boar's swan song attack endangers Sawyer, who gets caught in a deadly situation with Jack and Kate during a hazardous storm that suddenly erupts at sea. Ironically, one of the survivors of the storm is a piece of paper that has a message to Claire written by Charlie.

Sound interesting? I hope yall will like it, I do. Big things come in small packages. That's true for this fic. Short, but essential to the series(my own, not the show plot). Old plot lines will return, and Jack will have to make a life-alternating decision and advice from Kate(well, Locke, but Kate says it- you'll see!) may or may not help. In fact, the only person who can is Boone, who is currently missing, along with Locke in the jungle.

Once again, thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them! Until next time..

+ October Sky


	2. Chapter Two

The Message In the Bottle

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Okay, at the end of the chapter you're going to learn that past connection between Locke and Boone. Let me note that this is my own original plot, thought up when the meds spoiler came out. Turns out, it is Boone on the meds, but they're supposingly dropping that plot line. I'm keeping Boone's last name Rutherford, because I've already addressed it in past stories, and I don't want to confuse myself. The ending of this chapter is intended to creep my reviewers out, not in haunted, scary creepy, but more like the creepy where you have to stop and think 'oh my god'. In a way like the ending of the real episode of "Hearts and Minds". Or close to it. Let me know if it worked on you! Enjoy!

"Anyone else feel like we're going in circles?" Charlie sighed.

He had been walking around the jungle with Boone and Locke for over a day now. Or at least, he thought he had been walking around the jungle with Locke and Boone for over a day, because with the way the two acted, it sometimes seemed as though the two had slipped away, only to return conveniently every time Charlie asked either one of them if they had any food. And he wouldn't of been a bit surprised if that had been the situation.

"Guys?" He asked again, stopping as the wind begin to pick up.

Something rattled in the bushes, catching Charlie's attention. Whipping around, Charlie looked around, and sure enough, he was alone.

"Locke?" He asked to the trees. "That you?"

More rustling.

"Boone?"

The wind picked up in a lively pace as storm clouds began to rumble distantly. Charlie continued spinning, trying to figure out who his potential attacker was, and he had just caught the glimpse of a man's shadow before darkness over took him.

-

_"Did I find her, or did I find her?"_

_Jack had finally gotten a day off for the first time in a week in a half. He could've actually worked that day, it was an option thing, but Mark had forced him to take a 'mental health day'. Jack argued that those were for women, and Mark argued that it didn't matter, there weren't enough mental health days in the world that could cure his state. So now, nearly a month after his father had walked out on him, and now he had just sat through the worst attempt of a comedy he had ever seen, and had one of the sandwiches as well._

_"You found her," Jack admitted, thanking the vendor for the coffee as he took it._

_The two walked out of the plaza, and onto the busy streets. Mark had driven them a few hours from LA, to one of the less busier towns in California, a beach side type place. Jack had told him he felt more like it was a date then a friend thing, and Mark had replied to sock it, he had found the love of his life, which was true, despite the annoying impact the two together had on him._

_"I can't believe the weddings only in a few weeks," Mark expressed as he threw peanut shells down into the cracks of the concrete, popping each peanut into his mouth with practiced ease, "you know, you're gong to miss me."_

_"Sure," Jack shrugged, not pressing the conversation._

_Sighing, Mark looked out into the traffic that was building up on the street beside them. Jack just sipped his coffee, believing that the fact that it was eighty degrees outside and the taste warmed him like he was in an igloo every time prove nothing against his sanity. Mark watched thoughtfully as Jack took a large sip from his coffee, an amount that any normal person would've of been able to stand._

_"What?" Jack asked, catching the stare._

_Mark shook his head, placing his hand on Jack's shoulder._

_"We have got to get yourself a girlfriend," Mark addressed._

_Jack snorted, almost choking on his coffee._

_"When?" Jack said. "I have a job, Mark."_

_"So does nearly everyone else in the world!" Mark exclaimed._

_Just as he said it, the two walked past a homeless man holding out a ten for cash. Backtracking, Jack threw fifty cents in._

_"Thanks," muttered the man, his breath thick of a horrible stink._

_"That guy didn't," Jack pointed out._

_"You're not that guy," Mark said, "and face it, everyone falls in love. When was the last time you even went out on a date?"_

_Jack stopped, staring towards the overcast sky, thinking about it._

_"Tenth grade," he said finally, "the winter formal when you snuck me out of the house to take Terry Overstreet to homecoming. Turns out, Terry Overstreet is a freshman with glasses and acne."_

_"But she was nice!" Mark protested. "And you had a great time, remember? But now, you're the only guy in the city who hasn't been on a date since he was sixteen. Face it Jack, you're alone. Alone in the world. No one to live with, no one to die with."_

_"And it's very depressing," Jack said sarcastically, "I'm fine. I like- being alone."_

_He stopped, thinking about. Did he really? How much did he like being alone? Did he really like coming home to an empty, shabby apartment, knowing he could afford twice as better but didn't take the offer, thinking it was useless? Did he really like spending every holiday watching the parades solemnly on tv, waiting for the call from his mother, pleading for forgiveness and begging him to come down after whatever fight they had, just so she wouldn't look bad in front of her family? Did he really like spending every type of celebration alone, remembering his birthday only after someone on the ward reminded him a few days later? Sure, he had his one good friend, but what would happen when he moved on? When Jack was left with nothing but himself, and his shabby apartment. What would he do, try to make himself by buying a better one and call it a day?_

_"Sure, sure," Mark said, seeing right through him, "but face it-"_

_He looked at Jack more serious than he ever had before, and it was beginning to scare Jack just a little bit._

_"You're depressed," Mark finished in a breath._

_"What?" Jack said, in disbelief._

_"Ever since that incident with your dad, you've done nothing but work," Mark began, "you don't go out, and your co-workers are worried about you."_

_"Co-workers?" Jack repeated, amused._

_"They say you come in every morning, half-dead," Mark explained, "you never take breaks, you never want off."_

_Sitting his hands on Jack's shoulders, Mark shook him hard, as if trying to knock some sense into him._

_"You are depressed," he said, stating each word separately._

_Jack broke away from the grip, shoving his friend back._

_"I'm fine!" Jack argued. "You're just being- over dramatic."_

_A group of college seniors with blonde hair wearing halters and blue jeans, with long purses slung over their shoulders eyed the two as they past, rolling their eyes. Jack suddenly began to get the feeling of breaking up in a sappy soap opra._

_"Over dramatic?" Mark said, eyebrow raised. "You can't even act like a normal depressed person. No- you don't go to bars, or take refuge in small diners. Hell, you can't even say that your best friend floats in the bottom of a glass, because, my friend-"_

_He grabbed Jack's coffee cup, showing his point._

_"Your best friend floats in the bottom of a coffee mug," Mark continued, and threw the cup into a trash bin nearby._

_"Hey!" Jack exclaimed. "I wasn't finished with-"_

_"I'm finding you a girlfriend," Mark said, gaining seriousness, "if it's the last thing I do. I'm not going to let you do this to yourself."_

_"Do what to myself?" Jack said, confused._

_"Become your father."_

"He did it! He knows he did!"

Jack's eyes opened, feeling heavy against the lids, and his head bobbed forward a few times before fire flickered in front of his eyes, and he realized it was night, and he was down by the beach. A half a dozen people were with him, including Kate, Michael, Hurley, and Sawyer and Sayid, who had engaged themselves in yet another fight of accusations.

No one seemed to have noticed when Jack woke up, but then again, he guessed they never even knew he had been asleep. He was sitting on a log of some sort, and had had his head propped by his palms. Across from him, Michael looked like he had just won the lottery only to realize it was a hoax. Kate was standing behind Sawyer a few feet away from the fire in front of them, as if ready to pull back Sawyer at any given moment, and Shannon was behind Sayid, though in a more defensive position.

"Sayid hasn't even been to the beach all day!" Shannon argued.

"And I'm glad he has his girlfriend to fight his battles!" Sawyer shouted, fighting against Kate's grip.

"And where would I have gotten a lighter?" Sayid proclaimed. "You've been hoarding them around since we crashed!"

"Well you'd be happy to know I'm fresh out!" Sawyer said, adding a growl. "And I'm sure you learned all the tricks and skills back in training!"

At the war comment, Sayid lashed out, throwing himself at Sawyer, who broke free of Kate's grip. The two fought, falling to the ground, and Kate and Hurley rushed to separate the two.

"Hey, hey, dudes!" Hurley shouted, holding Sayid back. "We're not going to solve anything this way!"

"He's right," Sayid pointed out, though he looked ready to kill himself, "let's look at it this way, who has proof that they weren't at the beach today?"

"Well, we were looking over the French notes," Shannon said immediately.

"Can anyone confirm that?" Michael asked in a lawyer's tone.

"I saw them," Kate lied.

Michael nodded. Kate hadn't really seen them, but it was obvious that none of them had started the fire, but as long as the others didn't believe it, they might as well get the ordeal over with quickly. Sayid then turn to Jack, sure enough not showing any knowledge of knowing Jack had been asleep the entire time.

"What about you?" He asked, though he sincerely didn't think Jack did it.

"I was.." Jack thought about it, trying to remember, "sleeping."

"All right," Sayid turned to Kate-

"Wait!" Sawyer cut in. "You're telling me you ain't askin' him for any witnesses?"

"Sawyer!" Kate exclaimed, groaning.

"Fine, whatever," Sawyer muttered.

"Just stop," Michael said, shaking his head, "if we keep doing this, it'll take all night."

He looked up at Sawyer.

"Can you prove you haven't been down here?" Michael said. "Because last I heard, you made permenate camp in that hideaway of yours."

Sawyer looked down, thinking about it, before looking back up at Michael. He smiled a little, knowing he was about to prove them right.

"Yeah," Sawyer said, "yeah, I can show you proof. All that you want."

He led Kate, Jack, and Sayid to what used to be his dwelling, leaving Hurley and Michael to question some of the others in the mean time. When they arrived at the site, the other three stop short in site of what they saw.

"What did I tell you?" Sawyer said to no one in particular.

The dwelling now looked like a child's messy room, with clothes in items thrown about in no organized manner. Sawyer's book still laid in the sand ripped, but the letter had clearly been removed from it. Jack, Sayid, and Kate took in the site in awe, and Jack was the first to speak.

"These look like animal marks," he observed.

"Thank you, Doctor Dolittle," Sawyer said forcefully.

Kate stared at the site for a few more seconds before she decided she couldn't take it anymore.

"Let's go back," she said finally, "and tell Michael he didn't do it."

Jack and Sayid nodded, and turned to head back with her.

"He didn't do it," Kate confirmed to Michael as they approached him by the fire.

Hurley was nowhere to be seen, and Michael had been found gazing into the fire. Breaking away from his thoughts, he looked back up at the group.

"You sure?" Michael said.

"We're sure," Sayid said, sitting down next to Shannon, who had remained by the fire the entire time.

"Now what're we going to do?" Shannon groaned, giving into the known frustration in the air.

Not answering her question but adding to the mystery of the night, the group turned at the sound of Charlie stumbling out of the jungle. Sayid and Kate ran to help him, and set him down by the fire. Charlie's face was pale, and he was clutching the back of his head with his right hand, which was covered with blood. He moved the hand away, letting Jack look at the wound.

"What happened?" Jack questioned.

"I dunno," Charlie mumbled, "I was just walking in the jungle when this knife came down over my head."

"Did you see who it was?" Jack asked.

"Didn't see a thing," Charlie answered, "surprised I made it back."

"Kate, hand me my bottle of water over there," Jack said, tearing off a piece of fabric from the bottom of his shirt.

It took him a while to notice the other castaways(save Charlie) staring at him.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"Jack," Kate said slowly, "you never brought down any water."

She glanced at the others.

"In fact," she continued, "you haven't had any all day."

Jack stopped, feeling the blood from Charlie's wound leak through the fabric. But instead of making a big deal of it, he just shook it off.

"Just someone get me some water," he said, with a little more force then intended.

Thirty minutes later, Charlie's wound was dressed, and the color in his face was slowly starting to come back. Kate had voluntarily taken the time to explain the situation to Charlie, and the fact that Sawyer(who hadn't returned to the beach with them) couldn't have done it, along with any of them.

"But if Sawyer didn't do it," Charlie began, thinking it through," and none of us did it, then who does that leave?"

The survivors glanced around at each other, and Sayid met eyes with Shannon, and as the two had a mutual agreement, they glanced towards the jungle. Watching them, the others started to understand.

"The only people who weren't around," Michael said in disbelief.

"I don't believe it," Charlie muttered.

"Guys," Kate said, turning back to the center of the circle, "have any of you seen Locke or Boone all day?"

-

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Boone asked Locke for the dozenth time that day. "Because this seems like a really stupid idea to me."

"In order to find out what we need to know, Boone," Locke said, "we need to get to the heart of it."

The two were underground, having snuck into the same place where they had found Jack and Kate, which happened to be the same place where Claire had been taken. They had walked around tunnels all day long, and had found nothing, except for more tunnels.

"Hey, what's that?" Boone said suddenly.

A door on the far end of the tunnel had caught his eye as he had accidentally risen his flashlight too high. Locke glanced to where he was looking, and saw the door too. Cautiously, the two approached the door.

"Should we.. open it?" Boone asked finally, not sure what Locke would say if he did.

Sure they wanted the answers, but it was suicide to go barging into the master of evil's office.

"There's no light," Locke observed, noticing a crack bellow the door, "I think it's safe."

When Locke didn't make any move forward, Boone pushed on the door, letting it open a half a foot.

"Well?" Boone asked after the two just stood there for a few moments.

"You're call," Locke offered.

With that, Boone stepped into the room, but Locke held out a hand, blocking him from going any further.

"But maybe I should go first."

Boone nodded, not really caring.

"But make sure you don't let the door-"

Just as Locke was about to say 'shut', the door slammed, and with one shed of flashlight, they saw that they were trapped.

-

Boone sat against a wall, with Locke across from him. The room had turned out to be nothing more than an empty walk in sized closet. The claustrophobia was driving Boone insane, making him sick, though it didn't seem to bother Locke.

"Go ahead and take them," Locke said finally as Boone began obsessively tapping his fingers against his knees.

"What did you say?" Boone said, looking up at the man.

"The pills," Locke replied, avoiding Boone stare, "I know they're in your pocket. Go ahead. Take them."

Instead of taking the offer, Boone just continued staring at the man, in awe and confusion. How was it that he knew everything? As careful as he had been to hide his secret, as careful as Jack had tried to protect it, as well as Shannon, had someone else known all along?

"But-" Boone began, "how did you- when did you?"

"I know who you are," Locke said, not answering."

"Who I am?"

"I know about the other car."

Boone stopped. He suddenly felt as if all he had eaten in the past week(which was much) was forcing its way up his throat. His head spun, and Boone swallowed, trying to pull himself together.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he tried.

"The other car," Locke continued, "eight years ago a young man of eighteen finally gets his license. He decides to celebrate, and gets drunk with some friends. Drives himself home, and ends up smashing into another vehicle. Kills a woman and her child. That other car."

The story hit Boone hard, and the fact that Locke knew even harder. For a moment he was sure he was going to pass out, but determined not to show Locke how weak he was at the mention of the accident, he just swallowed again.

"How did you find out?" He asked quietly, knowing it would be useless to continue to act innocent.

"I've been following you around for nine years, Boone," Locke explained, "I probably know more about you than you do. Your name's Boone Rutherford. You're twenty-six. You attended the University of California for three years before you dropped out. You never told anyone. Your father died when you were young. Shannon's your stepsister by her father, who left when you were eighteen- right after the wreck. Soon after that your girlfriend gets you help. Under a fake name, you take a prescription to some serious antidepressant medication. Then you ran. You escaped that life, never telling anyone anything. It was a friend's car, though he skipped town. They never found a body, figured you burned up. But I knew better. I did some research of my own. Asked questions, got answers. Ones the police could've never though of. Ones the police gave up on. I knew better."

"You-" Boone said in confusion.

"That woman that was in the other car?" Locke said. "That was my wife. We were married for twenty years."

Boone caught himself before his jaw fell open, and felt the saliva wash away as he forced it back down. He held his hand to his head, trying to stop the headache that was coming on.

"The little girl that was with her?" Locke continued. "She was my daughter."

Locke said no more after that, leaving Boone to handle the information on his own, and he offered no moral support. Boone looked down, knowing Locke was watching his every move, and found himself unable to face the man. It was a few minutes before he was able to ask the question that had begun to bother him.

"But," Boone began, "if you knew who I was, why didn't you ever turn me in?"

"Because jail does nothing to a man," Locke answered, "he goes in, comes out, and never changes. Jail wouldn't do anything to you. No, when I found the man that killed my wife, that murdered my daughter, I wanted to deal with him on my own."

Author's Note: So, what did you think? Cool, huh? Well not really, for Boone's sake, I guess. A bit longer than I expected. Sorry it took so long to get out, blame my brother. I've had to wait up until twelve or later to write, and then I'd usually get writer's block. Oh well, here it is. Hope you liked it! Oh yeah, and thanks for the reviews!

Coming up next- Not sure yet. Truthfully. I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Hopefully before Wednesday night. I'm still debating about adding the Jin thing. So next chapter, most likely the boar thing, and the Locke/Boone thing.

Crazyhorsegirl88- Never fear, J/K will be here.. soon.. I promise!

+ October Sky


	3. Chapter Three

The Message In the Bottle

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: "Don't Mess Around with Jim" was written(or at least sung) by Josh Turner. I sadly don't own it.

Note: No offense meant to blondes in Jack's flashback, it's just her character.

"Jack! Jack!" A desperate voice said. "Jack, wake up!"

Jack felt a cool hand bring him back into the world, and right away he knew something was wrong. For one, he was cold, and he was sure he had been shaking. For another thing, as Jack's eyes forced themselves to blink open, he noticed it was light out. He was in the caves, his cave, he realized after a short moment, and the sun was shining through. But that didn't make sense, he hadn't even remembered walking back to the caves, let alone falling asleep. It took a moment for his vision to focus, but when it did, he saw that Kate, Charlie(with Claire behind him), Hurley, and Michael(no Walt) were all staring at him, in all of concern, confusion, and fear. Kate was closest, nearly on top of him, and had obviously been trying to wake him up for a while.

"Thank God," Kate sighed as she stepped back, giving Jack room to sit up.

Rubbing his head, Jack looked around at the people still staring at him, and a feeling of paranoia begin to sink in.

"Is something wrong?" He asked immediately. "Someone hurt?"

The castaways glanced at each other, as if sharing a secret only they knew.

"What?" He asked, looking at each one.

"We were just about to ask you that," Charlie said finally.

Jack looked at them, trying to figure out what they were saying. When he never said a thing, Kate answered for him.

"You were screaming," she said, looking helplessly at Jack.

"I was- what?" Jack said, not sure if he should believe them.

"Yeah man," Michael said, "we were just outside talking, and we heard these screams. Took a while for us to realized it was coming from you."

Kate gave Michael a skeptical look.

"Well, it took some of us a while," he corrected.

"Yeah dude," Hurley said, "you were yelling really loud."

Jack suddenly felt a mixture of embarrassment and horror take over him. He couldn't even remember going to bed or dreaming, how could he have been screaming?

"Could you understand what I was saying?" Jack said, though part of him didn't want the answer.

"Something about a plane," Kate said, the same helpless look on her face, like she was sorry she wasn't there to help him, or that she didn't understand, "something about a bar, and helping someone."

She stopped before continuing. Kate really did hate it that she didn't understand what Jack was going through, or why it was suddenly hitting him so hard. She just wished that he would let her in a little on his emotions, like he wanted her to do for him.

"And your father," she finished in a breath.

"My father?" Jack repeated to himself, feeling his breath leave him as he did. "But what could I of-"

"I don't know," Kate said shaking her head.

The cave was quite as the awkward presence of the other castaways filled the room.

"What time is it?" Jack asked suddenly, realizing that no one else seemed tired, or restless.

In fact, they looked a day ahead of themselves.

The survivors looked around to see who had a watch on. Charlie had seem to have forgotten about his, because it was Claire who grabbed his wrist, turning it over.

"Ten thirty," she read, then let his arm back down.

The caves turned back to silence as the survivors stood, wondering what they should do, or who should talk next. Right on time, Sayid and Shannon walked into the scene.

"We couldn't find Locke or Boone anywhere," Sayid announced as Shannon settled against a cave wall.

"It was like they disappeared," Shannon said with a shiver.

They both noticed the looks they were getting from the castaways, including Jack, who had no clue what was going on. Kate looked at Jack to explain.

"Lock and Boone haven't come back yet," she said.

"It's been two days," Jack said, remembering all to well the end of the search for Ethan, "and they're still not back?"

There were various nods from the castaways, and Jack quickly made up his minds.

"We've got to go look for them," he said, looking up at the castaways.

"We searched five miles out, and seven around," Sayid said, "if they're anywhere, it's very far out there, and we don't know what's out there-"

"Then maybe it's time we find out," Jack said, cutting him off.

The castaways, Kate most of all, were taken aback back the outburst. They stood, silent, not knowing what they should do. Jack seemed very out of character, almost as if something else was controlling him. Kate looked back at the others, and it took awhile, but they eventually got the picture.

"Umm.. anyone for a game of golf?" Hurley said, speaking up quickly.

"I'm up for that," Charlie said.

Then he glanced to the side, remembering Claire.

"I mean.. if you," he shook his head, "never mind."

"No, I think I want to come," Claire said.

With help from Charlie and Hurley, the three were out the entrance, leaving the others to spontaneously come up with something to do.

"I'm going to go start interrogation again," Michael said, stepping out.

Shannon looked at Sayid, and the two made a mutual agreement.

"We were going to go back to studying the French notes," she said.

She turned, and headed out. Sayid followed her, but stopped before exiting completely.

"But if you do decide to do anything serious," he said, "come find me."

Jack nodded and Sayid left, leaving Jack and Kate alone. She stared at Jack a minute as he stared at the ground, neither wanting to say anything yet. Finally, Kate swallowed, and began.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Jack?" She started off nervously, afraid of how he would react.

"Not unless there's something you want to tell me," he replied.

His gazed switched from the ground to her eyes at that line, staring into them deeply. If Jack meant for the line to be romantic, he had failed miserably.

"Fine," Kate said, standing up, shaking her head, "if you want to act like that, go ahead, but you had your chance to get help."

She left, leaving Jack, no longer smiling, and staring into the floor of the cave.

_"Meet Alana," Mark was saying, "blonde, and acts like it."_

_The two were sitting now in a pizza palor. Mark had half a slice of pepperoni left on his plate, along with a beer, but instead of eating now, Jack got the joys of waiting for a blind date his friend had decide to set up for him- without Jack;s approval. Of course, Mark complained that Jack would've left town(which was true), and he couldn't keep the secret girl secret any longer, and Jack was now looking at a picture of a blonde girl who was at least three year younger than him._

_"No," Jack said, setting the picture down on the table._

_"Oh come on!" Mark sighed. "Look at her, she's gorgeous!"_

_"And you're married," Jack reminded him, "and I'm not getting in the middle of a triangle."_

_"Which is why you have to go with her!" Mark joked. _

_Mark leaned back in his seat, pocketing the picture._

_"And it's never to late to jump back on the horse," he said cooly, crossing his arms._

_"Just tell me where I can get one," Jack muttered._

_"Here she comes now," Mark said, glancing towards the door._

_He stood up, picking up his leftovers._

_"Good luck," he said, adding a wink._

_Jack just sighed, and after a moment, forced himself to look for the woman he'd be spending the rest of the evening with. His eyes searched the restaurant, lingering by the door, catching glimpse of a blonde, five four, maybe one hundred and ten, in tight blue jeans and a shirt that showed skin Jack wasn't used to seeing. She was beautiful, Jack admitted, but he knew she was kind of the girl that if she brought home to mom, his mother would smile sweetly and ask her if she knew what a church was. He shook his head, pulling himself together as the girl finished talking to the waiter up front, who pointed towards Jack's table. Jack held up a hand, guiding her, and gazed as she strode over with grace he found impossible. _

_"Sorry I'm late," the girl apologized, rolling her eyes, "traffic."_

_"No problem," Jack said, feeling embarrassed as he had to obviously force himself not to stare at her._

_But it was clear that by her appearance and the nerves that seemed to be flowing within her perfect figure, that she had probably just gotten cut short of another date, and Jack wouldn't of been surprised at all if that were true._

_"Jack, right?" She asked, gracefully slinging her purse over the back of the chair, flipping her hair back before picking up the parlor's mini menu. "Sorry, I'm an accountant, a lot of names."_

_"I'm a doctor," Jack said before realizing he had no reason too, "I'm used to it too. Alana, right?"_

_Alana nodded._

_"I think I'm just going to get a salad," Alana said, standing up, preparing to head towards the salad bar._

_"No pizza?" Jack asked, giving a little smile of amusement._

_"I'm on a diet," Alana said in an obvious way that would make on feel like an idiot._

_And as she walked towards the bar, Jack found himself gazing after her once more, though this time, wondering what it was he got himself into._

Kate whistled an old tune that she had once heard on the radio, on of those that get stuck in her heads for weeks on out, walking down the path that led to Sawyer's old home on the beach. She wanted to pick around, just curious, to what the boar and Sawyer might've left behind. Turning the last fork behind a bush, Kate caught the first glimpse of Sawyer's previous home, but as she caught the full look of it, her heart stopped short, because wreckage wasn't the only thing the boar left behind.

Sawyer was slouched, unconscious against what used to be the airline recliner he slept on. His hand was hanging limply on the ground, his now scratched fingers clinging to a gun which was pointed down. His face now bore a long frightening scratch running across the left side of his face, and his forehead was bruised to, from what looked like hitting something.

"Oh my God," Kate whispered under her breath before running to Sawyer, and checking for a pulse as a strange sense of dejavu came over her.

She sighed in relief when she found one, and began to work his fingers out of the gun's wrath, knowing Sawyer had sunk so far into unconsciousness that even a punch to the face would not only not wake him up, but could possibly kill him. Once the gun was free, she placed it carefully in her back pocket, disarming it, and slung Sawyer's arm around her shoulder as she lifted him up.

-

"I need some help over here!"

The cavers turned at the familiar call for help, which they were all too used to by now. Jack was amongst them, having been sorted out some newly found medication in the main caves, not being able to stand his own at the moment.

"Jack!"

He recognized the desperate voice immediately as Kate, and he stood as she limped into the cave as quickly as she could, exhausted from hoisting someone from what looked like a long walk from the beach, and that person, Jack was soon to realize, was Sawyer. Sayid, who had been sitting with Shannon, whispered for her to hold on a minute, and ran to help Kate, and the two of them laid the unmoving form of Sawyer down on the floor. Many people who had been simply staring off into space, or counting the rocks around the waterfall, now seemed very interested in their surroundings, and listened intensively to what the three were saying.

"What happened?" Jack asked as the three crouched beside the body.

"I don't know," Kate said, pulling her head back as she fought to hold herself together, "I just found him like this, you know, back at his dwelling."

Jack glanced at her, wanting to know what she was doing down there, but knew there wasn't time. He looked down at Sawyer, thinking about what to do, aware that Sayid and Kate were watching him. He didn't really want to waste his time, after all that Sawyer had done to him, but at the desperate look on Kate's face, and the pressure from the stares of the other castaways, he knew he had no choice. Reaching down, he felt Sawyer's forehead: ice cold.

"He's been out for at least an half an hour," Jack informed.

"Those look like the same scratches that were on his tent before," Sayid observed, recovering from the shock of the site.

"Are you saying the boar did this?" Kate said, incredulous.

"Boar?" Sayid said in confusion.

"Never mind," Kate said, shaking her head, and turning to Jack, "he'll be okay, want he?"

Looking back down at Sawyer, he was reluctant to answer, and, in his embarrassment, didn't know how to act. Part of him, naturally, would want to help anyone hurt, it was just learned, and practiced, but this was Sawyer, and she was Kate. The other part of him was guilt at not helping but to feel a sting of hurt at seeing how worried Kate was capable of getting about the man. But the others were watching, he knew, and he was also smart enough to know how it would reflect back on him if they witnessed Jack doing just what he wanted to do at the moment- or did he? Could he really just sit by and watch a man die?

"Yeah," Jack nodded finally, "he'll be fine," just give him a while."

Kate sat back against some rocks, biting her lip, making herself believe Jack.

-

There was an errie tension in the dark room that you could cut with a knife, even a butcher knife, which, Boone feared, Locke was sure to have hidden in a back pocket somewhere. With no knowledge of a way out, Locke and Boone chose to confront the situation, and the silence turned into boredom, or at least to Locke, who had left Boone alone to cope with what he had just been told, uncharacteristically showing no sympathy towards the boy. Of course, he had killed his wife and daughter, so Boone supposed he was lucky to still be alive. He glanced over at Locke, who was in his own thoughts, hitting the blunt blade of a knife against the ground. Figuring even if he tried saying anything to the man, he wouldn't look up, Boone began to whistle a tune that came to his head, and after a few lines, began singing it.

"And they say you don't tug on superman's cape," Boone sang under his breath, "you don't spit in the wind. You don't pull the mask of a 'ol lone ranger-"

"And you don't mess around with Jim," Locke sang, joining in on the last line.

Boone looked up at him in surprised.

"I might be crazy but I haven't lost my mind," Locke joked, "I remember that song, but it's an old one. Where did you hear it?"

"Dad used to sing it," Boone answered, looking down, "when I was five.. he had this band thing. Played in clubs and stuff.. I think. He tried to teach me how to play the guitar once-" Boone sniggered in memory- "but I never caught on."

"How'd your daddy die?" Locke asked, watching Boone.

"Lung cancer," Boone said, looking down, "when I was eight."

"So I'm guessing you don't smoke?" Locke said.

"I'm no Sawyer," Boone said with a laugh.

"Some people don't know what to do with their problems," Locke said wisely.

"Some people like me," Boone muttered.

"Don't doubt yourself Boone," Locke said to him, "you didn't solve your problems, no, but you did what you thought was right, and it's not as though you've made yourself useless."

"Useless?" Boone snorted. "I'm a pool lifeguard who works for his mother's wedding business, who's incapable of saving someone."

"That's not true," Locke said.

Boone looked at him questionably.

"You saved Shannon."

"I don't get it," Boone said, "I killed your family, how come you haven't taken your revenge yet?"

Locke stared up towards the ceiling, as if imagining the sky there.

"I've never been a killing type of guy, if that's what you mean," Locke started, "I never understood how you could just want someone dead. They'd probably get more out of it than you would. No, I'd rather make a deal, compromise."

"Compromise?" Boone repeated, not sure if Locke was serious or not.

"We may get off this island tomorrow, or we may get off in ten years," Locke said, "either way, we're still going to have to be able to cope with what we've been through, though some of us different from others."

"Me," Boone realized, while still thinking about what Locke said.

What would happen post-island, if they made it? Would they be able to face the world again? Boone had always wanted to be someone, but never by something like this, and what about the others? Charlie and Claire? Boone shivered. He didn't like thinking about it.

"Things will be different," Locke continued, "especially for you, because up until now, you've been able to keep this part of your life secret for years, yet in a matter of days, your covers ruined."

"Weeks," Boone corrected.

"What?"

"Jack knows," Boone said, "I was kind of.. forced.. to tell him. A few weeks back."

"All those times you almost got yourself killed?" Locke guessed.

Boone nodded. Locke stared up at the ceiling again, thinking.

"Good," he said finally.

"What do you mean, good?"

"Jack's a smart man," Locke said, "he'll know not to tell, which is good, because no one else needs to know. No one else, but you."

"But you-"

"I know, yes," Locke said, "but what matters is that you know, and you'll remember. That hallucination your chasing? Every time you see it, I want you to remember who it was."

Locke's voice changed drastically, in a deep, frightening, matter.

"And every time you get in a car," Locke continued, making sure he had eye contact with Boone, "every time you open the door, and turn the key, and every time you begin to drive, I want you to remember what you did, and who you did it to, because all that matters, Boone, is that you know."

Cold blood rushed through Boone as he suddenly felt like he had been hit with a wall of bricks. Locke's words stung him, and he couldn't even move to say anything back. He didn't have the energy, or will, and he wondered if he ever would again.

That was when the door opened. Boone and Locke turned, Boone looking in a few different directions first, having forgotten about the door, figuring it would never open. Though the two leaped to their feet, both hands moving towards knives(though to Boone, it felt heavily as if someone was controlling him), as a figure of a man walked through the door. Boone couldn't see a thing, except a shadowing figure, and he could feel Locke's hand holding him back. The air was silent, and for a moment it seemed like the man, or whoever it was, left, and Locke seemed to think so as well, laying down his guard. Just to make sure, Boone reached into his back pocket, pulling out a mini flashlight. Locke couldn't see him to tell him not to do it, so Boone didn't realize what a stupid idea it was to shine the light until he did. He nearly leapt back at what he saw.

"Hello," slurred a man older than him who was pale from what looked like many years of underground work.

There was nothing for a beat or two, and so Boone didn't even see it coming when a fist shot out, cracking his jaw and snapping his head back. Boone spun, falling against the wall beside Locke, and her heard nor felt nothing except the flashlight falling out of his hands.

-

Sawyer's head spun as soon as he felt his head fall to the side. His eyes blinked open, and a heavy, blurry, world came into view.

"Where the hell-"

"You're awake," came a reply.

"Well Freckles," Sawyer said sarcastically, "taking the night shift now, aren't you?"

Kate stood up from where she had been sitting a few feet away. After adjusting to the light(it was still day), Sawyer saw that he was back in the med. caves, Jack's caves.

"So Doc gave up his hideaway for me, huh?" Sawyer snorted.

"Don't," Kate said, arms crossed, staring at him, "you just can't take things seriously, can you?"

Sawyer smirked a little, looking to the side, ignoring the pain that shot through his temples.

"You were gored by a boar!" Kate exclaimed.

"Has a nice rhyme to it, don't it?" Sawyer joked.

If he weren't sitting but standing, Kate would've slapped him then, but instead, all she could do was look at him in disgust.

"Your an animal Sawyer," Kate said, staring at him, "someone just saved your life- again- and all you can do is make jokes and insults. No wonder the boar wanted you. Your one of their own."

No longer feeling sympathy for Sawyer, Kate spun on her heals, storming out the exit, only to be stopped by Michael, who was rushing for her, out of breath. He as well showed no sympthathy for the injured Sawyer as he glanced towards him, then back at Kate, placing his hands on her shoulder for support.

"What is it?" Kate said, studying Michael's face as his worry grew off onto her.

"Jack," Michael said finally.

Both Kate and Sawyer, though no one noticed, looked up at him.

"What?" Kate said slowly. "What happened?"

Michael couldn't answer, still trying to catch his breath.

"What the hell happened?" She screamed, shaking him.

Reaching out again, Michael stopped her, which shut her up, and looked her in the eye with pity.

"What?" She said softer, now more worried.

His eyes were scaring her, and she knew Michael didn't want to tell her whatever he had to.

"Jack fell," he said finally.

Kate's heart stopped.

"What?"

"Kate-" Michael began.

"No really," Kate said, shaking her head.

"Kate, don't do anything-"

"Where is he?" Kate cut off before he could get to 'stupid'.

"No," MIchael said, "it's to dangerous out there, a storms coming in, and we've got men on it."

"Where is he?" Kate shouted louder.

"Down near the golf course," Michael said reluctantly, "storm looks rough, and Hurley said he saw some pretty deep land dunes down there and-"

He didn't get a chance to finish. Kate was already out the door, and was dashing down the path towards the valley, cursing and praying as she went.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the wait! Lack of computer time and slight writers block. So I made this one a tad bit longer. Thanks for the reviews! Glad your liking it!

Coming up next: Is Jack okay? And will Boone pay dearly for his idiocy? And how's the rift between him and Locke going to be the hike back- assuming they make it out? And to top it all off- all hell's about to pour out on the oceans, with tornatic winds and lightening. No sunny weather today.

By the way: The Locke/Boone thing is NOT slash! It's more, in a way, a father-son or brother-brother type thing. Or at least was, because God only knows what will happen now.

Thanks again for the reviews and sorry once more for the wait! Hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time..

October Sky


	4. Chapter Four

A/N: I added in the infamous 'counting' line at the end, because I thought it fit in well with the scene. I know a dozen other people have used in their stories, so please take no offense if you have.

Thanks for the reviews!

**Chapter Four:**

Boone felt his head roll as his eyes flickered open. He groaned as he fought to sit up, and finally gave in, collapsing against the wall behind him.

"You won't be able to stand on your own," a voice advised, "you'll be fine, with a little help."

Squinting, Boone strained to see as he looked up to what became a form of John Locke, who had a hand out in front of him. Boone looked at him, wondering what was going on. Why was Locke helping him after all he had just said? Nevertheless, he knew Locke was right; he'd never make a step on his own. The right side of his face was swollen in, and he knew there must of been growing some kind of bruise on it. His jaw screamed in pain, and his gum felt soft, like he was feeling the blood seep through. Whoever had hit him had known what he was doing. Boone closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain as he reached up, grasping Locke's hand.

As the man helped him up, Boone realized right off that his back was sore, and that must've meant he was out for a while. It wasn't long before he was in a full stance, and Locke held on to his shoulder for a moment before letting Boone stand on his own. Boone's hand immediatly flew to his head, grabbing the side as the pain hit, shooting towards his head. Locke was patient as Boone let his head drop before bringing it back up.

"I'm fine," he lied, bringing his hand back down, "I'm all right."

"Are you sure?" Locke said.

Boone knew Locke could tell he was lying, but he wasn't going to give in.

"Yeah," Boone said, "I'm sure."

Looking down, Boone noticed for the first time another person in the room- a person who was now a body, knocked cold, face down.

"Is he.. dead?" Boone asked slowly, staring down at it.

"I'm not a killing type of man," Locke quoted from their earlier conversation, "but he was. Put up a fight."

Boone glanced towards Locke, and noticed his knuckles were red from battle. Locke seemed lost in thought for a minute, but as soon as Boone noticed, he shook himself out of it.

"Will you be able to make it out?" Locke asked him.

"Yeah," Boone nodded.

He knew it would require some agonizing pain, but Boone didn't want to stay down here no longer than Locke did. Actually, he wouldn't of been surprised if Locke made camp down here, but he wasn't about to suggest it.

"Let's go," he added.

"Jack! Jack!" Kate screamed as she ran through the jungle, ignoring that branches that swung at her.

"Calling.. his name.. won't.. help!" Michael panted from behind her as he raced to keep up.

All it took was for Michael to point Kate in the right direction, and she had taken off.

"Turn right!" Michael shouted as he realized Kate had gotten too far ahead of him.

Kate was on it, and didn't need any further direction to know where to look. Sayid, Shannon, Hurley, and Charlie where standing at the edge of a cliff, looking down at something.

"Oh God," Kate whispered, stopping at the site.

The others must've heard her, because Sayid turned at the sound, Charlie following.

"Kate-" Sayid said slowly.

"What happened?" Kate interrupted, nervous at the sympathy she was getting.

She didn't receive an answer, only saddened gazes of the other castaways.

"What happened?" Kate said louder, walking towards them.

"Um, maybe you shouldn't-" Hurley began, but Kate ignored him, pushing Sayid's arm out of the way as she looked over the edge.

She almost fell over herself, losing her breath at what she saw.

"Oh no-" she said under her breath.

She was dreaming. She had to be. That was the only explanation because there was no way she was seeing this. There was about a twenty foot drop off the side of the cliff, and the bottom was set amongst a pool of smooth rocks, though all with jagged sides, and Jack lay between them.

"Jack," Kate whispered helplessly.

"I'm sorry," Sayid began, "we didn't even notice-"

"Yeah," Charlie cut in," we were just on out way back to the caves, and Jack saw something and just began running towards it."

"Did anyone else see it?" Kate asked, running her hand through her hair, trying not to lose it.

"No dude, it was weird," Hurley said, staring back down at the body, "he just, ran towards it and- wait, what are you doing?"

Kate had thrown her backpack down, and begun bending down over the edge. After examining the climb, Kate looked up at Sayid, with a small trace of hope running across her face.

"I can do it," she said confidently.

"Do what?" Shannon asked plainly.

"I can climb down there," Kate continued.

"No," Sayid said, shaking his head, "it's too dangerous. You might hurt yourself."

"He's right," Charlie agreed quickly.

"Hurt myself?" Kate repeated slowly. "Hurt myself! Jack's just fallen twenty feet and he may still be alive, and you're worried about me hurting myself!"

"No one could've survived that fall," Sayid said, expressing the truth, however little he wanted to believe it.

"No one should've survived the plane crash either," Kate shot back calmly.

That got the others quite, and as Kate threw a leg over the side of the cliff, they knew there was no stopping her.

"Be careful," Sayid said with worry.

"I will be," Kate said with a small smile.

She took a final look down, and began to climb.

"_Hey, hey," a voice whispered into Jack's hear, "Jack, wake up. Jack-"_

"_What?" Jack moaned, fighting off someone's constant tugging of his shoulder._

"_Jack, Jack," the voice repeated worried, "you need to wake up, you're having a-"_

"_Nightmare?" Jack offered, gazing into the eyes that were looking down on him._

_The eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen, a light, jade blue, that stared into him with a deepness he could've never predicted coming from someone like Alana. Turning his head to the side, Jack saw that it was eight fifteen, and the relief of having the weekend off came over him, even though he knew how bad it would look- every other Saturday he had insisted on coming in._

"_You were talking," Alana said, more worried then amused._

"_Was it about breakfast?" Jack said, amused, as he sat up, sitting on the side of the bed. "Because I'm starving."_

_He felt better than he had in weeks. Maybe Mark was right, maybe it was time he added something to his life- even if that something was blonde and five foot four._

"_Jack-"_

"_Um hm," Jack muttered, running his hand over his head, almost laughing at the fact that the last time he had even come close to a date like this, he had hair there._

"_I can't do this," Alana said quietly from behind him._

_Jack's hand stopped midway up his neck as he felt his insides turned cold in sickness._

"_What?" Jack said, praying he had heard wrong._

"_I'm not what you're looking for," Alana said, even softer than before. _

_Turning around, Jack stared at her. She was propped up by her left elbow, staring down into the cloud white sheets on his bed. _

"_Are you- breaking up with me?" Jack said slowly._

"_Breaking up with you?" Alana repeated._

_Jack felt the sheets move as she edged closer to him. The cool feel of her hands were soon against his neck as he felt her then draw her arms against him, holding him. Reaching up, Jack let his right hand linger on her left arm._

"_Jack, we've only known each other a little over twenty-four hours," Alana continued, her breath cool against his neck, "I just- I can't do this. I don't want something settled like this."_

"_Then, why-"_

"_When your friend called me," she said, "he said he was worried about you."_

"_Don't bring him into this-"_

"_I just thought maybe one night and-"_

"_So you do this often?" Jack said, a streak of anger in his voice. "Letting guys down like this?"_

"_Yeah, but, they kind of expect it," Alana said, her voice falling._

_Jack finally caught on._

"_I was set up," Jack realized._

"_Your friends are worried about you-"_

"_My friends don't know me-"_

"_I don't know you," Alana pointed out, "but from the past twenty-four hours, I have learned that your a good guy."_

"_A good guy?" Jack said, laughing a little. "What, is that like some kind of title?"_

"_Jack, there are a lot of single mothers out there who would pay to marry you," Alana said, desperately._

_Jack looked down before looking back up at Alana, hurt in both his voice in eyes._

"_So how much were you paid?" He asked as a lump formed in his throat._

"_No one paid me-"_

"_How much were you paid?" Jack said louder, practically yelling._

"_I've got to go," Alana said, shaking her head._

_This time, Jack looked down as she got dressed, unable to release his hands from their grip on the mattress. A few minutes later, Alana was fully dressed back into her jeans and top, and reached for her purse that was strung over an old chair in the corner of Jack's room he had no use for and had meant to take out years ago. She walked towards the door, head down, turned the knob, then stopped, and turned back to Jack._

"_You have friends that really care about you," Alana said, "and for them to be so worried, that they'd go to any crazy length to help- you don't know how lucky you are to have that."_

_Jack looked up at her, saddened, and Alana met his eyes on last time before leaving._

"_You're a good guy, Jack," she said, and then left, leaving Jack alone, and miserable._

"He's alive!" A voice shouted in his ear. "Oh my God- he's alive!"

Sunlight blinded Jack's eyes as they blinked open, and he found himself staring into dark, brown, hazel eyes. Eyes that he would remember for life.

"Hey," said the girl leaning over him.

The girl had set him up, and his back was now against a wall of rocks.

"Kate," Jack muttered weakly.

"Don't talk," Kate said, turning up to the top of the cliff.

"Throw me some water down!" She yelled.

He winced at the sound, and she turned back to him.

"Sorry," she said, giving him a small smile.

Jack didn't say or do anything in turn, nor was he able to. His back was frozen in pain, and he couldn't even feel his legs. Before he knew it, Kate was catching a water bottle, and undoing the cap.

"Good catch," he offered as well as he could.

"Thanks," she said, "here- drink."

She lowed the bottle to Jack's mouth, and he forced himself to let the water fall into his mouth, recoiling at every swallow. After a few sips, Kate capped the water, and turned back up to the edge of the cliff.

"You guys go ahead," Kate called, "I can take it from here."

"Are you sure?" Michael said, concerned. "It'll be a hard trip, and the storm's coming."

"Don't worry," Kate said reassuringly.

She waited until she made sure the others were gone before she looked back to Jack.

"How bad do I look?" Jack said, regretting the answer.

"Like you just traveled to hell and back," Kate said, "but your face looks okay."

"I guess that's all that matters, huh?" Jack joked.

"It's all that they'll see," Kate said, knowing that would be all that Jack would care about.

But the comment silenced Jack, which made her think.

"Jack-"

"No Kate, don't," Jack said, "I'm okay."

"You're okay?" Kate said, incredulous. "You just chased a hallucination off of a twenty foot cliff and you're telling me you're okay?"

Jack didn't answer her, silenced by her words.

"Jack, you've got to start talking to me," Kate said, looking at him, "you've got to tell me what's going on. I want to be able to help you."

Jack looked into her eyes, and saw the sadness and guilt in them, and immediately began to hate himself. Why couldn't he just have told Kate what was going on? What was so embarrassing about it? What, did he think she would laugh? Here he was, killing himself, because he was afraid to tell a girl he'd probably be stuck with the rest of his life one little thing about him. He felt like a monster, and after all he had practically forced her to tell him. Maybe, he decided, it was time she got some of that truth back. She deserved that respect, didn't she?

"When my dad died," he began, "I got them to let me take his body on the plane. I was going to take him back to my mom, in L.A. I've found his coffin, but not his body."

"Jack-" Kate said, remembering the dream.

"No, don't," Kate looked slightly insulted, "I won't be able to start back up."

When her face softened, Jack started again.

"Every now and then, since the first week," he said, "I've been seeing some kind of image of him."

"The fire," Kate realized, remembering Jack's words.

'I've got to save him'. The 'him' that only Jack could see.

"Yeah," Jack said.

He would've nodded if he would've been able to move.

"And a few other times," he added.

Kate looked at him.

"Is there any way to stop it?" Kate asked. "Can't anyone help you?"

Jack thought back, to his lingering debate with himself about Boone's medication. It was the same ordeal, right?

"Yeah," Jack sighed, "but he's out somewhere in the jungle."

Kate looked at him in confusion, but then nodded, assuming he meant Locke.

"Well, Locke has to come back around sometime," she said.

"Locke?" Jack said, then understood. "Oh, yeah, I guess."

He wasn't going to give Boone's secret away. He felt bad enough that he had forced it out of the boy, after he had spent eight years keeping it so well hidden. Jack and Kate remained quiet, each thinking about the secret. After a few moments, Kate looked up at the darkening sky.

"We should go," Kate said, as they heard a distant rumble.

She began to stood, and reached down to help Jack, but he pulled away, staring distantly into the earth below them. Kate studied him, and saw that going anywhere was the last thing that Jack wanted to do right now, injured or not. He seemed to be in some kind of pain that she couldn't understand, and even after all she had been through, knew she never would be able to. Sitting back down, Kate leaned back against the rocks beside them, and didn't protest when Jack lowered his head, resting it on her shoulder, and as she held him, she begin to count in her mind..

_One..two..three..four..five._

_Six._


	5. Chapter Five

The Message In the Bottle

Chapter Five

Chapter Note: I can not express enough how important Jack's flashback is. Not only are what Jack does and thinks important, but so is a character, make that two, who appear in the flashback important. They're both on the island, though Jack doesn't realize it. Neither will remember seeing Jack, or won't remember any time soon, which is very important to the plot, and only one Jack knows, and knows very well. The second is turning out to be the baby ice burg to the plot, under the hatch, and will come into the fic, well.. this story! See if you can figure out who I'm talking about.

Note Two: I'm going to go back and add in the 'Disney world" line into the drinking game so I can make a reference to that. Also, for further notice, I'm going with the shows p.o.v. on everyone except Boone as far as I know. I'm still debating about changing the Sawyer/Jack's dad chat. I like how I'm able to have those fights between Jack and Sawyer, but I love what Christian said about him being weak.

A sharp jab to the side of her head made Kate's eyes snapped open, and without moving her head, she looked around, trying to figured out where she was. The memories of the day came rushing back to her in a wave of pain- Sawyer's boar attack, Jack's fall, finding Jack alive, and the soothing feeling of Jack's head on her shoulder as she held him, switching roles for once, and she didn't mind it a bit. She want sure if he had cried, or what he was thinking about as he lay against her, but just the feeling of his head against her shoulder told her that Jack had something that Sawyer could never have- depth, and the courage to admit that maybe he was wrong, and to find the strength to ask for help, even if that help came with one touch, soundless. But something was wrong.

She was soaking wet, and something was leaking through her shoulder. Raising her hand, she ran it through her pulled back, dripping hair, catching a loose strand and pulling it behind her ear. Turning her head away from the rock it had been pressed against, Kate groaned, and then stopped at what was beside her. Jack's head still rested against her shoulder, and the feel and site of it made her smile. He looked at peace sleeping there beside her, and she didn't want to, but she knew she had to wake him up.

"Jack," she whispered, shaking him a little, "Jack, wake up, we fell asleep."

"What-?" Jack groaned, raising his head.

He blinked, looking around.

"Oh man," he muttered, realizing what had just happened.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked, concerned as Jack suddenly seemed embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Kate," Jack said quickly, "I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," Kate said softly, "you needed to."

"I feel like a kid who wants his mother," Jack said with a laugh.

"Just don't make me punish you for not eating your vegetables," Kate joked.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about that for a while," Jack said.

They shared a smile that lingered until Jack finally broke the gaze, looking up towards the graying sky.

"I can't believe we slept through that," Jack said, looking around them.

Limbs were everywhere, and every bit of ground was soaked, causing the rocks to shine in a glaze. They gazed at it for a moment before Kate replied.

"I can't believe you slept."

She turned, and smiled at him, making him smile back.

"See, I like you like this," Kate said, finding herself actually feeling.. happy.. which seemed weird in a situation like this.

"Like what?" Jack said, testing his back as he tried to move, but groaned in the effort, and resulted to falling back against the wall behind them.

"Like this," Kate said, watching him, "happy."

"I don't think happy's the right word right now," Jack said, "it's leaning more towards grateful.

Kate smiled, knowing she had proven him wrong. Jack might not of been happy, but he looked and seemed ten times better than he had when she had been holding him, which Jack obviously seemed embarrassed about, which Kate didn't like.

"Jack, don't be embarrassed," she said finally after a few moments of Jack purposefully avoiding her.

"What?" Jack said, giving her an idiot smile that gave himself away.

"Jack, whatever you're going through-"

"I'm not 'going through' anything," Jack said, doing a horrible job at covering himself up.

"It's okay to ask for help," Kate said, looking at him, trying to come up with a reason why he would deny the advice he himself gave every day.

"I don't need 'help'," Jack said, as he finally tried standing up.

He winced as he did, and Kate watched, helpless as Jack straightened his back, face scrunching at the pain. Finally upright, Jack put on a fake reaction that Kate didn't buy.

"I was just- tired," Jack lied.

He knew what he wanted, and at the moment, it was nothing more than wanting to be back in Kate's arms, better yet, for it to be the other way around. The thought of admitting his weakness made him feel low, and like everything he had done on the island had been for nothing. Had it not been he who had spent restless nights awake so others felt sick? Was it not he who others came to for help, advice, and every decision? As much as Jack secretly loathed the role, it now felt like something that was set for him, and he knew he couldn't perform it if he blended in with the truth. He then felt Kate's eye on him as he took a drink from the water bottle that had been thrown down for him, and he wanted to pour some down his sore neck, but knew it needed to be saved.

"We should go," he advised.

Kate looked up at him at partial disgust at the way he was acting. Why was it, she wondered, that he treated himself like this. He didn't deserve it, and didn't want it, and could change it, but yet, he didn't. But sitting at the bottom of some cliff in the midst of a storm wouln't help a thing, so Kate(against her will) stood up, and looked Jack in the eye, trying to show him at least a window of how she felt.

"Let's go then," she said, her face less pleased then before.

_The smell of fresh burgers and liquor filled the air as a waitress, who only looked sixteen or seventeen with long, dark brown hair, finally came towards his table. Jack had been sitting at Roscoe's, a bar/grill for the past half hour, and no one had bothered to give Jack so much as a glance. Of course, Jack hadn't exactly brought attention to himself, and probably could've beam waited already, if he had had the energy to ask, which he lacked. All that Saturday, Jack had felt drained and exhausted, and hadn't been able to do a thing. He couldn't bring himself to get back into bed, after what he had done. _

_He was blaming the whole affair on himself. Jack had done exactly what he swore to himself he'd never do. He had told himself he would never fall into the hands of society, and let the world do with him as it pleased, and become part of the one power everyone was under. Though worthwhile, his life was dry, he'd admit, but he never thought he'd sink as low as this. How could he of been so ignorant, thinking that something like that would actually work out? He felt like a fool, and embarrassed. So Jack had decided to take refuge a bar/grill where it(so lucky for him) had to be karaoke night, and a new song started just as a man of forty with long, brown, seventies style rock band hair took the mic, and, surprisingly, turned out to be good._

_When are you gonna come down?_

_When are you going to land?_

_I should have stayed on the farm_

_I should have listened to my old man._

_"Sir, excuse me, sir, can I take your order?"_

_Jack looked up and straightened himself out of his slouched position as he gave a weak smile to the young girl._

_"Sorry," he offered, then cleared his throat," I was just- listening to the music."_

_The waitress gave a glance towards the man on stage, not realizing she was taking in the song as she did._

_I'm not a present for your friends to open_

_This boy's to young to be singing the blues.._

_The man continued to sing into the chorus, fading into the back of Jack's mind._

_"You're order, Sir?" The waitress asked._

_Jack shook his head, pulling himself away from his thoughts._

_"Just a beer," Jack said, looking down._

_He felt like a teenager who had snuck into a R rated movie and was now having regrets. He shouldn't be here, he knew, it was hypocritical to everything he stood for, but even as he thought that, he was embarrassed for making such a big deal about it._

_"You sure?" The girl joked, checking her watch. "It's not even sixteen passed six."_

_Jack glared up at her, silencing the waitress, who was thrown for a loop at his glare that told everything his was feeling- exhaustion, pain, and hurt._

_"All right, all right," the girl muttered, and Jack turned his chair down as she wrote that down. "Anything else?"_

_Jack simply shook his head as the waitress sighed._

_"That's what's wrong with the world today," she said, taring the page of her tablet and throwing it onto Jack's table, "everyone's a few beers behind."_

_"So I'm guessing you don't drink?" Jack said, picking up the ball of paper as he began fingering it._

_The waitress laughed._

_"Are you serious?" She said. "You're lucky I even got your table, no one else even noticed you were here. Truthfully, I'm supposed to be managing of the karaoke, but-" she glanced over towards the man still singing, "-it looks like they've got that under control."_

_She turned swiftly on the heals of her worn shoes, going over to the bar, leaving Jack alone with his thoughts. _

_So goodbye yellow brick road_

_Where the dogs of society howl_

_You can't plant me in your penthouse_

_I'm going back to my plough.._

_While waiting, Jack had continued fingering the ball of paper, rolling it in-between his fingers and feeling the roughness of its edges, until, finally, he brought himself to open it as the background music rang in his ears._

_Back to the howling old owl in the woods_

_Hunting the horny black toad.._

_The song was somehow driving into his mind, and the paper ball was becoming engulf by a fist that was shaking, and Jack grew unaware of the staring eyes, including the singer on stage. Jack was trembling all over, he knew, as sweat began to trickle down his forehead as he drove himself mad with his thoughts, and the waitress who had taken his order stopped talking to the bartender and glanced over him, in somewhat concern. The restaurant grew quite as they watched Jack, and the singer caught himself right before missing his next line._

_And oh I've finally decided my future lies-_

_Jack slammed his fist down onto the table, causing everyone around him to jump. His eyes were mad with a mixture of fear, hatred, and pain, but not towards anyone or anything, but to himself. He hated himself for letting himself allow one desperate act, one night, get into him, and now felt even worse that he was sitting in some restaurant taking his anger out. All in one movement, he let the paper fall out of his hands, and pushed himself up from the chair, storming out of the room and leading the other customers silent except for the people solo from the karaoke machine, which the singer realized was still playing._

_-Beyond the yellow brick road._

_As Jack let the door sling shut behind him, the singer's voice faded as he ended the song, and Jack crossed the parking lot to his car. On the way, he met eyes with a passenger in a black SUV. He couldn't make out a figure, for all he could see were eyes, eyes full of fear of the near future.._

"Jack, let's stop," Kate said, leaning against a tree for support.

Hiding himself after coming out of his thoughts, Jack ignored her as he continued on.

"Jack!" Kate pleaded.

Just as it seemed like Jack was about to reply, the bushes before them rustled, causing Jack to stop dead in his tracks.

"Jack-" Kate warned, stepping forward.

She soon felt the cool touch of Jack's hand against her stomach. The touch made her stop, and even take a subconscious glance towards him, wandering if Jack knew what he was doing. The rustling grew closer as Jack moved to step forward, but then changed his mind, stepping back, and preparing for the worst, which turned out to be-

"Sawyer," Kate sighed in both relieved and irritable.

Jack sighed as well, just thankful for the knowledge that they weren't about to find themselves kidnapped again, because somehow, he just didn't think he could put up with that right now.

"Howdy," Sawyer said, "ain't yall a pretty site?"

He was clearly amused by Jack's exhausted appearance, despite the fact that he had just fallen twenty feet.

"What are you doing out here?" Kate said, crossing her arms.

"People at the caves thought it would be funny to sneak off to the valleys and leave the injured behind," Sawyer said, "so I followed them."

"All the way out here?" Kate asked, amused a little herself.

Yet part of her couldn't help but to feel sorry for Sawyer, if he was telling the truth, and a little guilty as well. With all that had happened with Jack- the fall, falling asleep, the storm, Jack denying- _Jack._

It suddenly felt very awkward or at least herself. She hadn't mention her and Sawyer's little camp out in the woods, and had made every effort to avoid conversation that led to it. Now she felt guilty, like she had just cheated- but on who, and for what?

"Storm through me off," Sawyer said defensively.

Jack shook his head.

"Let's just go," Jack said, secretly not wanting to further Kate and Sawyer's conversation, "and just be glad the storm's over."

"Be glad the storm's over?" Sawyer snorted. "Hell, you know nothin' about storms, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Kate asked for Jack.

"Lived in the south long enough to know when a storm comes, it comes," Sawyer said, showing off his southern accent, "and it don't go nowhere."

Jack was about to make a comment regarding how ridiculous that sounded, when, ironically, it started to rain again. Sawyer just smirked.

"What did I tell ya?"

Jack just once more shook his head, starting down the path again, leaving Kate, and finally Sawyer to follow.

"Walk around any longer and I'd say we landed ourselves on the undiscovered continent, not an island," Sawyer yelled to Jack over the pouring rain.

The three were soaked head to toe. Sawyer had decided to discard his bag(which really only held a few packs of cigarets, a bottle of water, and a bottle of vodka), saying why carry the water when Niagra Falls was unleashing it's afternoon tea. It was only holding him back, he claimed, though it didn't seem to help, for he still trailed behind Jack and Kate, and found himself repetitively running to catch up.

"There's a clearing up ahead," Jack shouted back.

In all, the hike had been quiet. Having nothing to comment about, Sawyer kept to himself, aside glancing towards Kate every few steps, noticing how distant she was being, which Kate only knew, was from worrying about Jack, who had been even quieter than the both of him.

He was torn in two with his thoughts of Kate. Though Jack was well aware that when it came to romance, he was the one who made a big deal out of nothing. But it was a big deal, wasn't it? Ever since he first saw Kate stumble through the bushes the first day, Jack had felt some kind of tension between the two, and witness as his feelings varied from relief, to hope, and to..love? Did he love her? What was love anyway? Did he even know? Could he ever know? All his life he had dedicated himself to finding love through his father, to being able to make him proud. Could he find that through someone else too?

"Jack!"

Jack jarred from his thoughts just before he stepped onto some wood-wait-wood? He looked down and looked up, following the trial in front of him, the trail that turned out to be a wooden swinging bridge that connected to the cliffs like a hammock., hanging over at least a fifty, sixty foot drop off over a creek of rocks a stream ran through. The rope of the bridge felt rough in his hand as Jack heard Sawyer approach behind them.

"Something's telling me this ain't the way they went, doc," Sawyer said as the rain echoed against the rotting wood.

"Should we go back?" Kate asked, staring at the bridge, feeling sickness developing in her stomach.

"No," Jack said, shaking his head, "that will only take us right back to where we came from."

"This island doesn't work miracles," Sawyer reminded him, "with are luck, one step and the thing blows."

"We need to find a path that goes around," Jack said after a moment of thinking.

"How are we going to do that?" Kate asked, looking at Jack.

The fact struck Jack. The clearing had turned out to be the jagged edge of a cliff, that had no way around it but straight.

"I'll go across," Jack decided finally.

"What, no-" Kate tried, grabbing on to Jack's arm but having no effect as he pushed out of her grip, and stepped on to the bridge.

The first step creaked as it felt the long awaited weight, and the rope slipped from the rain, and Kate tried to reach to pull but was drawn back by Sawyer's arm.

"Let him do what he wants," Sawyer muttered into her ear.

Kate recoiled, knowing that Sawyer didn't care what happened to Jack, and probably would be please with the outcome of the fate the bridge could have on him. So she watched, helpless, as Jack took a few more steps, and winced at every creak. Ten steps in, Jack stopped and turned, giving Kate a weak smile that she return, and Sawyer smirked at before turning back, but the forest wasn't what he saw in front of him.

The angry form of his father's hallucination was glaring at him, refusing to let him pass. Jack's eyebrows firmed together as he stared back.

"Are you okay?" Kate called, worried.

Jack looked down, holding his hand to his head, squeezing his forehead, trying to get the image out of his mind.

"Yeah-" Jack yelled back, "yeah, I'm fine."

Watching as he closed his eyes tight, Kate broke away from Sawyer's grip.

"I'm going to help him," she said, shaking her head and moving out of reach before Sawyer could stop her.

She stepped onto the wooden plank, and swallowed hard, balancing herself.

"Stay back Kate!" Jack forced out, hearing her behind him. "It's to dangerous."

"No, Jack-" she said as she moved for quicker than she meant to, now only four planks behind him, "you need-"

Breath was ripped from her lungs as the bridge broke underneath her. She fell through the two fallen planks, which crashed into the stream bellow, and grabbed onto the rope, clinging for life. Jack turned at the sound of her scream, ignoring the fact that his father had disappeared.

"Kate!" He shouted, as he moved towards her.

Sawyer was already on it, running across the bridge to Kate, and for some reason, that bothered Jack more that it should, and he missed a loose bolt which he tripped over, causing him to fall forward until-

He was caught, just before his legs gave out, and was left staring down into the stream, which very easily could've been his destiny if it wasn't for the fact that Sawyer's hand caught his arm just into. Looking up, he saw something he had never seen in Sawyer, worry, concern, and it wasn't just for himself. He helped Jack up, and Jack planted his feet, balancing himself.

"Thanks," he said sincerely.

"There won't be more where that came from," Sawyer said in his usual tone.

"I won't expect it," Jack jolted.

Sawyer and Jack were immediately back down, squatting beside Kate.

"You gonna pull her up?" Sawyer asked, wondering why he even bothered to come across.

Because in the end, it was always Jack who was the hero.

"I can't do it alone," Jack admitted to his surprised.

Sawyer looked at him questionably, then nodded in agreement.

"Kate, you'll have to reach up to me," Jack said to her.

Kate had both hands gripped around the rope, and was biting down hard on her teeth.

"Kate, you'll have to let one hand go," Jack said, "I'll catch it."

"I-I can't!" Kate said in a panic. "I can't do it!"

"You can!" Jack said to her. "Just- trust me."

The comment caught all three of them off guard. It was a known fact that Kate trusted Jack, visa versa, but for Jack to ask it, seemed odd. The moment drew on as Kate continued to cling on.

"Just, reach up," Jack instructed, "and- don't look down."

As he said it, Kate glanced below her, and began to twitch at the sight

"Nice going," Sawyer mumbled to Jack.

Jack ignored him, as he looked back down at Kate.

"Kate, please, just trust me-"

She looked up at him then, and he realized what it was. Of course she wasn't fast to trust him. Was he not the reason they were all out here in the first place?

"Sawyer's going to help," he reassured.

Kate looked at him, staring into his eyes, and then nodded. Shaking, she let her right hand slip off of the rope, which seemed to take forever.

"We ain't got all afternoon!" Sawyer reminded her.

Jack glared at him. That was the last thing Kate needed. But her hand was now free of the rope, and as promised, grasped his hand, lapsing his fingers into hers. He wanted the moment to last forever. Just the feeling of her soft skin embracing his rough, well-worked, callused fingers, felt soothing, and for a split second, it seemed as though everything would be okay, Sawyer would disappear, and he could have the moment to himself, embracing it.

"She can't cling any longer," Sawyer's voice reminded him.

He wanted to curse at the man for ruining his moment, but knew Sawyer was right, and shifted weight as Sawyer reached down, grabbing under Kate's arm.

"On three," Jack said, "one, two-"

The two men pulled, lifting Kate safety onto the floor of the bridge, where she lay, her head rested against Jack's knees. Jack pulled her hair out of her face as she coughed, gasping for breath.

"Will you be all right?" Not trusting how long the bridge would last with all of their weight, but felt the urge to shove Sawyer's off as her head lay against him.

"Yeah," she managed, "I'll be fine. Help me up."

The bridge creaked as Jack helped her up, Sawyer watching, and the three looked ahead as far as they had to go, an estimate of eight steps.

"So are we going to stand here all day or what?" Sawyer asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Let's go," Jack said, readying himself.

"Can you do it this time?" Kate asked him, more concerned for Jack then herself.

Then again, she had to be. Sawyer had no clue what was going on with him, and couldn't.

"Yeah," Jack nodded, making the mistake of looking down.

Because, of course, to his luck, there stood his father, standing on the banks of the stream, staring up at them. Jack stared, praying he would just go away, just this one time, without Jack having to complete some kind of task, or get hurt himself. Instead, Jack's father just stood there, until..

"Help them," came his father's voice, muttered into his ear.

"What-?" Jack said to himself, looking back, only to find Sawyer staring at him with the utmost confusion.

"Jack, are you okay?" Kate repeated for what seemed like the dozenth time that day.

"I'm fine," he promised, once again.

But as he took the next step forward, gravity pulled against him and he jerked as he felt it. Kate's hand stopped him this time, her hands gripping his shoulders.

"Just let me help you this time," she insisted.

Jack stared at her, and then reluctantly nodded, trying to forget that Sawyer was there, because he knew that though Sawyer wouldn't go brag about it, he wouldn't let Jack forget it either. Either way, Kate held onto him as the three crossed the bridge, letting the rain fall around them. And that's when the lightening started, growing more rapid at every flash, not even allowing the three time to stop, so they continued down the path, until Jack looked up, just in time to notice a lightning bolt slamming against a tree.

"Look out!" He shouted, and covered Kate's head as the three dove to the ground, narrowly missing being crushed by the falling tree.

"Sawyer," a voice whispered, "Sawyer, hey Sawyer, you awake?"

Sawyer reached out at the sound of the voice, grabbing who he knew to be Boone's arm.

"I ain't your dog boy," Sawyer muttered, "stop saying that."

"Yep," he heard Boone say, "he's alive."

"Help him up," he heard Locke's voice say.

Sawyer's eyes rolled open just as he felt Boone pull him up, letting his head rest back against a rock. He took a moment to catch his breath, and then another to take in his surroundings. It took a while for him to remember what happened, but when it did, it all came crashing down on him in one stream of memories. The first thing he noticed as he saw Boone was that the kid was perfectly dry, unlike he himself, who was still damp from the rain. Looking over, he saw that Locke had sat Jack down on a log, and was crouched in front of him, doing the usual eye check. He saw Locke nod in satisfaction, and slapped Jack lightly on the shoulder as he stood. Jack rubbed the back of his head wearily, and looked around, briefly meeting eyes with Sawyer before turning to Kate, who was laying only a few feet from where he was, and unlike the other two, she wasn't awake.

Turning, Sawyer managed to get by her side as Jack walked over, but was held back by Locke.

"You of all people should know she needs her room," Locke said to Jack.

Hesitantly, Jack nodded, and sat back, knowing all he could do was wait, which didn't take long. He was up again in an instant, ignoring the pains in his back(and knowing Sawyer was doing the same) as Kate's eyes fluttered open.

"Hey," he said, giving her a small smile.

"Hey yourself," Kate said, feeling as though she was reliving the day.

"Think you can stand?" Locke asked her. "We need to get to the caves before dark."

Kate let her head rest against the ground, wanting nothing more than to lay there, and wanting no one else to be there with her than Jack, who seemed more concerned for her than anyone was.

"Yeah," she said finally, "I can."

Locke and Jack helped her stand as Sawyer fed for himself, and after a moment of letting Kate recollect herself, started the journey back.

"So Jack," Boone said twenty minutes into the hike, "what are you going to do when we get rescued?"

When, Jack couldn't help but to think, not if, but when. The boy seemed so set on it. He just wished he could have those kind of thoughts.

"Probably go back to work," Jack said, knowing that would be the reality of it.

"Glad to see some people have a life," Sawyer muttered.

"So I guess it doesn't matter to you if we get rescued or not," Locke said.

He had trailed behind the group, though knowing he could've made a faster pace but not wanting the others to think they had to live up to it.

"Well I don't have to pay rent here," Jack joked.

The others, save Sawyer, laughed lightly, a sound that sounded cool against the humid air.

"What about you, Kate?" Boone asked next.

Jack and Kate exchanged glances, not knowing Sawyer was doing the same behind her back, and Kate swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I'm going to take Sawyer to Disney World," she said, forcing herself to smile a little as she continued walking.

"I might just hold you up to it," Sawyer smirked.

The conversation turned quiet again, until a few minutes later when Jack began to whistle out of boredom, stopping at Kate's groan.

"What?" He asked, a little amused.

"Nothing," Kate said, shaking her head, "it's just, my dad used to sing that song all the time. Non stop. It was like the only one he knew."

"Well," Jack said, acknowledging the tone of Kate's voice as she talked about her father, "I don't know if I'm as good as your old man, but-"

"Please don't," Kate pleaded, smiling.

Jack ignored her, and began to sing-

_Day after day I'm more confused_

_Then I look for the light through the pourin' rain_

Sawyer smirked at Jack's singing voice, which lacked some of the major qualities, but for the others, was pretty close. Boone laughed a little to himself at his own memories of his father, knowing Locke was watching him.

_You know, that's a game, that I hate to lose _

_I'm feelin' the strain, ain't it a shame _

_Give me the beat boys and free my soul _

_I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away_

_Give me the beat boys and free my soul_

_I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away_

Jack retreated to whistling, gradually coming to a stop, to the others relief.

"Can anyone do a good Simon Cowell impersonation?" Locke teased.

The others smirked, and looked up, not realizing that they were entering the caves.

"There you are," Sayid said, in somewhat relief.

"Yeah, where have you been?" Charlie Michael. "It's been what, four hours?"

They were handed water bottles that were sitting by the stream, but Sawyer reached down, grabbing his own before being offered one, and opened it, letting the cool sensation quench his sore throat.

"Jack put on a show," Kate said, reaching down as she helped Jack with a bag he was trying to move."

"Were those the screams we were worried about?" Sayid joked, leaving the others to laugh as the caves grew less populated as the castaways went back to their normal everyday activities.

Kate lingered as Jack reached for his spare bag.

"Let Charlie do the singing," she whispered into his ear," keep your day job."

Jack smiled a little as she walked away, leaving him surrendered with his own thoughts, that were soon interrupted by real screams.

"Jack! We need some help!" Charlie's voice rang into the caves.

Faces turned to the sight of Charlie in Hurley, rushing in, bringing in an unmoving body, and laying it down before Jack.

Author's Note: I'll do this later. I'm beat. Disclaimers and everything will be next chapter. Basically, thanks for the reviews and sorry for the wait.

October Sky


	6. Chapter Six

The Message In the Bottle

Chapter Six

NOTE: I know nothing about planes except they go in the air, and I know nothing about airports except they're crowded with high security, so please, don't come after me!

Locke found Jack sitting at a fire by himself, staring deeply into the ground with his knees brought up to his chest and his hands dangling between them.

"Mind if I have a seat?" Locke said, while going ahead and taking it.

Reaching into his bag, Locke brought out a bottle of water, and offered it to Jack, who shook his head. Next, Locke brought out a small pill bottle, one that was all too familiar to Jack.

"Those are Boone's," Jack said, puzzled.

"I know," Locke said, looking at Jack and holding out the bottle.

"How'd you get it?" Jack asked, wandering what this was supposed to be.

"Boone didn't need it at the time," Locke said simply, examining the bottle.

"I don't get it," Jack said, "did he just..tell you?"

"Let's just say we have a history," Locke said, somewhat distantly.

Jack looked at him, somewhat annoyed that he was here. Was it to much to ask that everyone left him alone, just for once?

"What are you trying to say, Locke?" Jack said, getting to the point.

"When I was a boy," Locke began, "my dad hated my mom. I remember hiding in my room, listening to them yell, thinking that I would just be better off without them. I was always making plans of running away, and it haunted my dreams."

Jack watched him as Locke fiddled with the pill bottle, trying to figure out what this had to do with him. Though as he listened, it seemed as though Locke was lost in his own memories, and had completely forgotten that Jack was there.

"And then one summer, I went off to camp," Locke continued, "but when I got off the bus at home, they were gone."

Staring at him, Jack found himself hardly able to believe Locke's story. It seemed so harsh, so cruel, but then again, was it any worse than his? Locke had been able to escape from his life, but he had never gotten the change, until now. Was that what Locke was trying to say?

"What are you saying?" Jack asked, speaking his thoughts.

"I had a hard time dealing with the concept of it over the next two years," Locke said, not seeming tempted to hold back, it was more like a confession, "and I needed help."

He came back into reality, and pointed to Jack.

"You need help," he said, seriously, "now I don't know what has happened to you or what you've done, but you need help."

"Are you suggesting that I-?" Jack began, eyeing the pills.

"That is one option," Locke cut in, "but I'm not pushing it."

"Boone uses them," Jack said, sounding like a child making excuses, "and the only difference between Boone and I is that he did what he needed to do when he needed to do it."

"No," Locke said, "the difference between you and Boone is that Boone doesn't have a choice-" he flipped the bottle of pills in the air like he did with his knives, and handed it once more to Jack, "you do."

Jack stared at the capsule a moment before finally replying, and when he did, he was embarrassed to discover that his voice was cracking, and he had to speak softly, so softly that Locke had to strain to hear, for it not to show.

"Then what should I do?"

"Well, there's this way," Locke said, once more fiddling with the bottle, until he noticed movement from the opposite side of the caves: Kate, coming in to get some water. Both Locke and Jack were out of eyesight, for Jack had purposefully distanced himself, "or their are other ways."

Locke gave the capsule to Jack, who took it, staring so deeply into it that he didn't if notice when Locke stood up, holding Jack's shoulder for balance, and left.

_Jack was standing in the back lot of the LA airport, anxiously waiting. His nerves were growing as they had been since he woke up at four sixteen this morning, nearly two hours before his alarm went off(it was Saturday, and he was beginning to learn to take advantage of his days off). Not that he had gotten much sleep anyway._

_It had been a month and a half since his father had disowned him, and it had finally begun to take its psychological toll on Jack. Of course, some thought it had from the start. After his awkward one night stand, Jack drew himself away, once again, from the world of dating, and from the world period. He hadn't talked to Mark since the set up. There was a message on his machine at home from Mark concerning Jack being best man. Jack hadn't replied, figuring if Mark wanted it so bad, he could come ask Jack himself. _

_"Jack Shepard?"_

_Jack turned at the voice to face a man in his upper forties, dressed in a formal pilot outfit, complete with the wings pinned to the pocket of his shirt. He looked like a guy who knew exactly what he was doing, loved doing it, and did it everyday, and that thought alone eased Jack's nerves a little as the two men shook hands. _

_"I'm Nathan Cook," the man said, "I've been flying for thirty-five years, flew my first plane when I was sixteen, only crashed once, so you have nothing to worry about."_

_Jack looked at him, trying to decide if that was meant to be a-_

_"Only joking!" Nathan said with a laugh at Jack's serious face. "So is that face taught in med school?" At Jack's confused and not amused look, he continued. "Sorry, let's just get right to it. Is there anything you need to tell me? Any medical attention? Eye problems?" His eyes glistened. "Girl problems?"_

_If possible, Jack was left amused than before. What a way to boost his self-esteem. No way was he telling this creep a thing._

_"Sorry," Nathan said again, "I'll go do a little pre test, come back, and we'll be ready to go."_

_Nodding, Jack watched as Nathan walked towards the plane that was parked solemnly by itself. Watching as he stepped in, Jack once again began his regular anxious wait, lifting himself on and of the balls of his heals._

_"Jack!"_

_Jack spun around at the sound of the voice he had hardly recognized. No other than Mark was running towards him, dressed in a suit with a tie thrown loosely around his neck. He stopped when he reached Jack, gasping for breath._

_"I..haven't run..that much..since high school," Mark said with a small smile._

_"What, the bullies chasing you again?" Jack joked._

_"Glad to see you're in high spirits," when Jack didn't answer, Mark looked around, and as if realizing for the first time where they were, exclaimed, "flying lessons? Come on Jack, seriously. A girl leaves you and you take flying lessons?"_

_"Yeah but I'm sure you know the story behind that," Jack shot._

_The statement hit Mark like bricks, and Jack could see it in his face._

_"Sorry," Jack began, "I shouldn't have-"_

_"I was worried about you, Jack," Mark began, "we all were."_

_"All?" Jack questioned, eyebrow raised._

_"Your mom and-"_

_"My mom?" Jack repeated. "You went to my mother?"_

_"Well-"_

_"My mom hasn't talked to me a week longer than my dad," Jack said, "she doesn't care about me."_

_"She does-"_

_"Don't talk to me about my parents!" Jack yelled over him, causing the pilot who was leaning inside the plane to glance over. "You don't know anything about me!"_

_"Calm down Jack," Mark muttered, "don't cause-"_

_"I'll cause whatever I want to!" Jack snapped._

_"Jack, if you'll just listen, I know f a really good therapist who can help you-"_

_"I don't need help!" Jack cut in, furious._

_Right on time, Nathan stepped in._

_"Um.. I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, a little embarrassed, "but the plane's ready if you are."_

_Jack glared at Mark, who stared back, helpless._

_"Yeah," Jack said, "I'm ready."_

_Sitting in the cockpit of the plane made Jack feel superior somehow, like he was in control of something._

_'For once,' Jack thought._

_It was always his father in charge of anything, like they were some sort of a couple. Jack and Christian Shepard. How romantic. Jack didn't think so._

_"You ready?" Nathan asked him, jerking Jack out of his thoughts as he realized he had been staring at the handles._

_For a split moment, Jack thought of fleeing from the cockpit, running back outside, and confessing everything. Confessing that he needed help, that he wanted it but was too weak to ask, and confessing that he knew if he lived another week like this he'd kill himself. When he realized he was being watched, he nodded._

_"Well, you know what to do," Nathan said, "but I'm here to help."_

_Jack nodded again, and did his job- starting up the small plane and putting it in the air. After a few minutes of flying, Jack relaxed, reminding himself that this was why he chose flying as an alternate career choice. Up here he could relax. Up here, no one cared what he had done, or what he told himself he couldn't do. Up here he could think, without the pressure of knowing one wrong move of the hand, and a life could end. Okay, so that wasn't entirely true, but for the first time, he could see why someone would want to spend fifty years doing this. But that's when it started._

_He hadn't realized his hands had been shaking, and he hadn't known for how long. He was turning cold, he could feel it, and was shaking. When had this started, what was causing it? And then the headache came with excruciating pain that explode within him, causing him to jump back in his chair._

_"Jack, are you all right?" He heard from beside him, but couldn't answer._

_He was slowly loosing control over the plane as he felt his sweaty, shaky hands slip from the wheel he was clutched to. Fighting to keep focused, Jack strained to see more than just pink blurs in the sky._

_"Jack, you can do this," came Nathan's voice, "just turn around the plane, and land it. You can do it, you've seen it done a dozen times before._

_But Jack was too shaky to notice. Blackness blinked in and out of his mind as he tried to turn off course, and felt no more except the feel of hands moving his out of the way.._

_Jack looked down as he let Nathan help him out of the plane. He had never remembered feeling so embarrassed before. Well, except maybe the reason incident with Alana, but he had never been much of a romantic. Mark ran to them as he put his arm around Jack's shoulders, letting Nathan(who thanked him) off the hook, and helped Jack walk over to a set of stairs decreasing from a door to the side of the airport, slowly sitting Jack down. He gave Jack a minute, and then he didn't even need to ask what had happened._

_"So ready for that therapist now?" He asked as Jack sat there, holding his head in his hands, still trying to block out the pains in his head that seem to have come from nowhere._

_Without saying a word, Jack nodded._

Jack was in his cave, going through all the medical supplies, sorting through the clothes he found, doing anything to keep his mind off of the decision he was avoiding. He just didn't know if he could do it. Hand his life over to some other force like that. He was just popping some panic killers in his mouth for his back when he heard a soft beat against the cave wall.

"Knock knock."

Kate's figure appeared in the entrance, smiling, and Jack couldn't help but to return it.

"Hey," Jack greeted.

"Hey yourself," Kate said, entering, "you look better."

"Maybe I am," Jack said, sticking to the optimistic mood.

"Really though," Kate said, watching him, "how are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Jack lied.

"Don't say that," Kate said, "because that's what you've been saying from day one. That's what you said when you disappeared into the jungle, only to coincidentally come back with news of a fresh water source. That's what you after you were buried and the cave in and after you let Sayid torture Sawyer."

She knew the last comment had hit him especially hard, and she studying his hardening face as it did, but nonetheless, Jack didn't contradict himself.

"So don't give me that anymore," Kate said, "you want the truth from me and I want it from you. It's a two way street, Jack."

Letting him take that in, Kate watched as he lowered his head, holding his fingers against his forehead as if trying to block out something.

"So how are you really feeling?" Kate asked more empathetic.

And to her surprise, Jack answered.

"I don't know," he said truthfully, "I'm not sure."

"Then let me help you," Kate said softly, stepping in front of him, forcing him to look down on her. "What's going on? And I want the truth this time."

Jack took a deep breath, and then told her, knowing it was only fair, and knowing he needed to get it off his back.

"I've been seeing these- visions," he began, and then clarified at her confused stare, "hallucinations."

"Of what?"

"My father," Jack said, barely audible.

"The cliff," Kate realized, "and the bridge. How long has this been going on?"

"Day seven," Jack said regretfully.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Kate asked, feeling bad for every time she had gotten on to him, or wandered why he was acting the way he did.

"It's not something you hear everyday, is it?" Jack said with a taste of light humor.

Kate didn't see it.

"Can anybody help you?" Kate asked desperately.

"The only person who can help me is in the dead of the jungle," Jack said.

"Well Locke isn't the only one with brains."

Jack stared at her, and then remembered she didn't know about Boone.

"But there is another way," he said finally.

"What?" Kate said, staring at him.

Hesitating first, Jack reached in his pocket and pulled out the half-empty medicine capsule.

"What are those?" Kate asked, wandering if Jack was hiding more than he was telling.

"Do you swear not to tell a soul?" Jack asked her, more serious than he had ever been with her.

"Yeah, I swear," she promised.

"They're Boone's," Jack said with regret, "but that's all I can say."

"Fair enough," Kate agreed, "but what do they have to do with you?"

Jack thought about it before answering.

"He has the same sort of problem I do," Jack began.

"With hallucinations?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded, "if I take these, they might help."

"Stop the hallucinations?" Kate said with a little help.

"More like withdraw them," Jack said, "it would take some strength on my part too, but-"

"But what?" Kate said, not getting it. "Jack, you can't do this. You can't give up this strength you've already built and give in to something like that."

"The strength I've built?" Jack repeated. "Kate, are you not listening to what I've been saying? I'm weak. I spent two months denying it before it was too late."

"You've been through this before," Kate realized.

"I don't think I can help myself anymore," Jack admitted, "maybe it'll just take something else, because I can't risk it. These people need my help, and if I'm not able to-"

"How could you live with yourself knowing that your strengths, your emotions are being overruled by something else?" Kate asked him, a bit disgusted. "I mean, no wonder Boone's so disorientated. I see him with Shannon. One minute he's fine, and the next-"

"I've been trying for over two months now, Kate," Jack reminded, "and if nothing's helped, maybe this is the answer."

Kate stared at him in disbelief.

"I can't believe you," she said, looking at him with a pain look in her eyes, "I never thought you'd sink this low. This entire time you've been pulling away from whatever happened between you and your father, and whatever power he had over you. And now, you're just going to go and do this?"

Jack didn't answer as he avoided her stare, but after a beat, he couldn't take it, and looked back into her hard eyes.

"This isn't you," she said, shaking her head.

Turning, she headed towards the cave opening, but stopped before leaving, and looked back at Jack who stood, remorse in his thoughts, a hurt look in his eye that he knew shouldn't be there because deep down, he knew Kate was right.

"You have a job to do, Jack," Kate said, leaning onto the wall, "but before you save the others, you've got to save yourself."

Jack looked at her, admiring Kate as she stood in the beauty he loved about her, not only with looks, but in the way she spoke, the way she looked at him, everything. And then he smiled at her.

"Locke told you to say that, didn't he?" Jack said, a little amused.

Kate returned the smile.

"Yeah," she admitted, laughing a little, "but I sounded really smart there for a second, didn't I?"

Meeting eye, they gazed at each other, and though wanting the moment to last forever, Kate knew it couldn't and turned, leaving. As soon as her footsteps ceased their echo, Jack raised the pill bottle, noticing everything from its scratched edges to the small code on the cap: 423, and while doing so, he recalled everything Kate had said, combined with his advise from Locke, and decided that they were right; he could do this. And with that, he through the bottle into the cluster of medicine, making a mental note to remind Boone to take it with him later.

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait! Writer's block thing. Hope yall liked it! Next chapter will most likely be last, and a song fic chapter to "Displaced" by Azure(sp?) Ray. Much thanks for all the reviews!

Summary for next fic:

Request- It's a game of trust and betrayal as Jack vows to protect Kate's past when it's put endanger, and what was meant to be a romantic date between Shannon and Sayid turns into a misled jungle trek when Locke goes missing.

Until next time..

October Sky


	7. Chapter Seven

The Message In the Bottle

Chapter Seven

Okay guys, Ethan's still a little down that Sawyer's the bad guy next fic, so don't be too hard on him this week, okay?

Ethan: (whine) It's not fair! J.J. told me that I was the bad guy!

October: Do I look like J.J. Abrams to you?

Ethan: (mutters) You're ugly enough to be..

October: (scrawl)

Ethan: I mean..I love you J.J.! You're da man!

October: ...(hour long pauses) Never use the phrase 'da man' again..it's just..not right on you.

Ethan: (walks away mumbling) I hate being Canadian..

Disclaimer: I have nothing against J.J. or Canadians, but you might want to talk with Ethan.. and "Displaced" is by Azure Ray. And to anyone who's a fan of the song, and insist that it's friendship and I'm looking at it as love, please forgive! In my opinion, it's a great friendship song, though I can see how some people could look at it as love, and I just thought it fit in eerily well with _Lost_.

And please note that nothing in this chapter is meant to be slash! In fact, you'll never see me writing slash, I hate it!

Cue Music: "Displaced"

The sun was sinking into the deep horizons of the South Pacific as the beach camp began the process of rebuilding as they put their hand in, picking up fallen tree limbs and throwing seaweed back out to rest in the ocean.

_It's just a simple line_

_I can still hear it, all of the time_

All that was, except for Sawyer, who, as Sayid could see from not too far away from his new home, had fallen asleep, with some kind of book lying on his chest, his head turned to the side in exhausted. No one had bothered him, doing their usually telling off that he needed to put more effort in and at least help out a little. In fact, not even Kate had talked to him since whatever had happened during the storm.

_And if I can just hold on tonight_

_I know that nothing_

_Nothing survives_

And though he hated to admit it, Sayid had begun to pity the man, but even though what Sawyer had told him about his foster brother still clung to his mind like an annoying song, Sayid wasn't going to be the first to talk.

_Nothing survives._

Hurley was going through more bags on the beach, his usual chore, especially now more than ever after the storm had torn the camp apart.

_I think I'm turned around_

But somehow, even the storm hadn't bothered him a bit, and though he'd never say it out loud, the island didn't seem so bad either, as long as whatever creepy crawler was out in the jungle stayed in the jungle.

_I'm looking up, not looking down_

_And when I'm standing still_

When the sun had set, Shannon and Sayid had decided to take a break from cleanup, and were relaxing in the sand, when Boone walked behind them, trailing along with Locke. He was well aware who Shannon was with, what kind of man he was, and was aware that for the first time since the crash, she was actually enjoying herself, actually smiling. Looking back at her, Boone thought of this, and decided that maybe Locke was right, maybe it was time he let go.

_I'm watching you run_

Hearing his shuffling feet, Shannon turned, Sayid's voice now just echoing against her ears, and she barely heard it as she watched Boone, just missing his own stolen glance to her.

_Watching you fall_

But as Boone walk back to whichever camp he was staying at now, she realized that though she felt bad for him, she knew that at the moment, that was exactly how she wanted him. Walking away. He was her brother, she knew, but that was it, she had to except it. For the greater good. Turning back to Sayid, she smiled at him.

_Fall into me_

Kate sat alone on the beach, staring into the deep blue ocean as she had done everyday, but today it felt different, today she had something more to think about then the past she hid.

_Am I making something worthwhile of this place?_

She thought about her conversation with Jack, and thought of Sawyer. The typical pros and cons, Sawyer had the looks, they both had the money, but what was Sawyer, really? She didn't even know, and knew he wouldn't let her any time soon. He had tried, sure, but Sawyer could do nothing more than hate himself, and not look at the situation for what it really was. But Jack.. she remembered the feel of his head on her shoulder as he fell asleep, and the way he sounded and the look in his eyes whenever he had tried to let her in. Because at least Jack had tried, and succeeded. She just hope that she had done the right thing.

_Am I making something worthwhile of this chase?_

Or maybe he had been trying from the beginning, Kate thought. She remembered all the times Jack had mentioned or hinted that he had too much on his back. All the times he had that same look in his eye he had tonight. All the times he looked so exhausted, or hungry, and almost childlike in hiding it. And all the times she had figured it meant nothing.

_I am displaced_

Kate stood up, and winced, still sore from the hike and bridge. Her hands were blistered a pinkish red from grabbing onto the hurt, but she could no longer feel the pain because every time she thought of falling, she thought of Jack helping her back up. She turned around, and heading to the caves, longing to hear his voice again, longing to feel that touch.

_I am displaced_

Charlie walked along the beach to where Claire was laying in the sand as he had seen her done so many times.

_And she's my friend of friends_

He gazed at her, almost losing balance from it, as he walked towards her, and watched as she rubbed her stomach, and smiling at some unseable thought.

_She's still here when everyone's gone_

Finally reaching her, Charlie sat down next to her and they met eyes.

_She doesn't have to say a thing_

Charlie reached into his back pocket, breaking the gaze, and pulled out Claire's diary. For the past few nights, they had sat together, reading her diary. She trust him as he read through the more humorous parts, the diary dating all the way back to her early years of trying to survive high school.

_We'll just keep laughing all night long_

He opened it to a page starting with Claire talking about her senior prom, and he didn't even mind that she was writing about another guy, because he had secretly read ahead, and smiled as she wrote about her dumping him at an Italian restaurant and spilling vegetarian sauce all over his dress pants. Both smiled at the words he was reading, and neither wanting to change a thing.

_All night long_

Sawyer woke up to a fire filled beach, though this time, it was due to dozens of small fires. People sat around them, in couples in groups, lovers and friends, while he sat alone, lying against some wreckage he had drug up from the beach. His book he had fallen asleep reading to, _A Wrinkle In Time_, was on his chest, opened to the middle. He'd finish it in the next day or two, he knew. He had nothing better to do.

_Am I making something worthwhile of this place?_

He wasn't like the others, making friends and building new homes. Sawyer had chosen to keep to himself for one reason: he deserved it. He didn't deserve to have a good time, and hadn't even deserved to survive the crash. But he did. What did that mean?

_Am I making something worthwhile of this chase?_

Looking down, he noticed that his taped up letter had fallen out of his back pocket, and thought it should've laid in the open, it was instead hidden under the suitcase, the edges sticking out so that only he could see it. Who had put it there?

_I am displaced_

He looked around, and saw that Jin was too sitting alone, staring into his own fire, but there were no footsteps leading his way. Instead, they were leading the opposite direction, right to Sayid, who was laying next to Shannon, her head just barely off of his chest, both asleep.

_I am displaced_

As Kate entered the caves, she spotted Sun reading a Korean book, sitting on some rocks, her bag beside her. She offered her a small smile, and continued walking towards a path near Jack's cave. A path, she knew, Jack had been taking every night.

_It's just a simple line_

_I can still hear it all of the time_

The path led her to a small clearing on a small spot on the beach that no one had found, or returned to, because she soon saw it for the same clearing where she had met Jack, and a few grains of sand were still stained with the blood from when she had stitch them up, and looking closely, Kate saw that a single strand of thread stuck out of the grit. Standard black.

_If I can just hold on tonight_

He didn't look up from his fire until she sat next to him, giving him a small smile.

_I know that no one_

_No one survives_

And he returned it as they let the night fade out around them, letting the crackling of the fire be the only thing they heard, though really, what they were hearing was the message from each other, the message that the others had been trying to send them since the beginning, because they saw it too. And no one needed to tell them in words, because as long as they kept that look between the two of them, kept that smile, they had it. They had each other.

_No one survives._

Author's Note: Okay, a little angsty there, but I couldn't think of a good last line. Well, there you have it, the END. Next fic should be up sometime in the next week, and spring break's the week after, so I'll have plenty of time at night to write. Thanks bunches for the reviews! Yall rock!

And keep an eye out for my next fic..

Request: It's a game of trust and betrayal when Kate's past is put endanger and Jack vows to protect it. Meanwhile, what was meant to be a romantic date between Shannon and Sayid is turned into a misled jungle trek when Locke goes missing.

I haven't decided if this will be Kate or Boone centric. I have no flashbacks planned for Kate, but an island story, but it's the other way around for Boone. What do you think?

Thanks again, hope you enjoyed it, and until next time..

October Sky


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